The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Jackson’s electric dunk rates with UConn’s best
He starts off perched on the left wing, a few feet beyond the 3-point line, his body set like a sprinter about to start a race. Or more like a high-jumper.
Yes, definitely more like a high-jumper.
When teammate Jalen Gaffney drives the lane, Andre Jackson springs into action, focused on grabbing the rebound if Gaffney misses his shot. He takes three long bounds, much like a high-jumper, and when Gaffney’s floater is off the mark, Jackson certainly does jump high. But the result is no Fosbury Flop.
Rather, it’s one of the most electric slam dunks in UConn history.
Jackson’s one-handed putback slam with 43 seconds left in the first half of Saturday’s bout with Seton Hall belongs somewhere in the pantheon of great UConn dunks. A “splash play,” coach Dan Hurley understated — the type of play that would have blown the roof off of Gampel Pavilion had a sellout crowd been in the house.
Alas, these are the times we’re in.
Earlier in the week, when asked what UConn fans could expect from his former Albany Academy
teammate now that he was back from a broken wrist injury and ready to be unleashed by Hurley, Yale’s August Mahoney told Hearst Connecticut Media: “The sky’s the limit.”
After watching Jackson nearly head-butt the rim on Saturday’s dunk, maybe even the sky can’t contain the 6-foot-6 freshman.
“He’s just scratching the surface,” said Hurley. “You saw glimpses of it. Obviously, the splash play, which really got us going.”
And just think: Soon, Jackson’s athleticism could be paired with the owner of another one of the program’s all-time great dunks. James Bouknight, who’s missed the last seven games following elbow surgery, will be a gametime decision for UConn’s bout at Providence on Wednesday night.
“He really doesn’t even know what he’s doing out there yet,” Hurley said of Jackson. “Once he gets the feel, and we get Bouknight back, we’re gonna look much different.”
Jackson’s development has been set back this season by a number of things: offseason minor knee surgery, COVID-19 pauses and a broken wrist that sidelined him the past six weeks.
“It’s been a pretty upand-down freshman year for me, between injuries and other things,” Jackson noted. “It’s definitely good to get out there with the guys. The week that led up to the game was pretty intense in practice. I’m enjoying just playing and getting out there.”
So where does Jackson’s dunk rank with some of the greatest in Husky history? While it was a key play as the Huskies sliced an 18-point deficit down to nine at halftime (and eventually just two early in the second half ), it still came in a loss. And the lack of fans unfairly takes away some of its effect.
Plus, there’s a lot of competition. Jackson’s may not rank among the greatest dunks in UConn history yet, but it’s a good bet this high-jumper finds a spot on this list before his time in Storrs is done.
The sky (and beyond) is the limit.
An informal poll of UConn Twitter yielded these results for best all-time UConn dunk:
1. Donyell Marshall’s 360 breakaway dunk vs. Seton Hall, Feb. 12, 1994:
For Husky fans of a certain age, this is the one. Athleticism, energy and pure emotion. And if you’re wondering whether Dan Hurley played in this game, the answer is no: Hurley had gone on a personal hiatus from basketball after just two games that season, but returned to Seton Hall the following season.
“I re-enacted that dunk on my Nerf hoop hundreds of times” — @SPS1017
2. Stanley Robinson’s alley-oop dunk from Jerome Dyson vs. Texas, Jan. 23, 2010: An earlygame slam by the late, great “Sticks” that set the tone for the unranked Huskies in their 88-74 win over top-ranked Texas at soldout Gampel without Jim Calhoun, who was on medical leave.
“Absolutely shook the place” — @mcarrollgolf
3. Jeremy Lamb’s onehanded baseline jam vs. Columbia, Nov. 11, 2011:
A remarkable display of length and athleticism. And no points deducted for doing it against a bunch of Ivy Leaguers.
“He put that kid in a body bag” — @uconndude
4. James Bouknight’s one-handed, alley-oop slam from Jalen Gaffney vs. ECU, Feb. 29, 2020:
Gaffney’s pass was a bit wayward, but no worries for Bouknight, who snatched it with one hand and slammed it home. This may be one of UConn fans’ few pleasant memories from the AAC days, especially the trips to ECU. The dunk didn’t shut down the basketball world, but almost: Eleven days later, the entire season was cancelled thanks to COVID-19.
“From a pure difficulty standpoint ... has to be No. 1”
— @bmac9263911
5. Tony Robertson’s fast-break, two-handed slam vs. Boston College, Feb. 16, 2002. Robertson broke out of a slump in a big way in this one. Husky fans probably just like the fact that it was against BC.
Others receiving multiple votes: Rudy Gay vs. UMass, Rudy Gay vs. Syracuse, Rudy Gay vs. seemingly all 350 schools, Stanley Robinson vs. Michigan State (Final Four), Stanley Robinson windmill vs. Syracuse (6 OT game), Rodney Purvis vs. SMU, Toraino Walker vs. Villanova, Niels Giffey vs. Michigan State (Elite Eight), Ray Allen vs. Seton Hall, Lyman DePriest in 1988 NIT, Ben Gordon’s windmill vs. Ball State, Andre Jackson vs. Seton Hall, Jerome Dyson vs. Gardner-Webb (he was called for a charge), Kemba Walker vs. Louisville (Big East tourney), Phil Nolan closes out the Elite Eight.