Huskies continue to draw inspiration from late Aubrien Jimenez
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — If the UConn men’s basketball team seemed a little extra motivated on Wednesday night, there was good reason.
The Huskies continue to draw inspiration from Aubrien Jimenez. It’s the type of inspiration that not even a fiery coach like Dan Hurley can provide.
Jimenez passed away in June at the age of 15 after a long battle with a rare form of cancer. A few months earlier, she and her family had flown up from their Bradenton, Fla. home to attend a UConn Big East Tournament game, as well as the Huskies’ Selection Sunday celebration inside the Werth Family Champions Center.
Her visit was extremely impactful to the team and her story has become wellknown to the UConn coaching staff, players and fan base. But with so many new players on this year’s team, her father, Mario, wanted to impart her story to the team again.
“We really wanted to re-ignite what Aubrien’s story meant to this university, to this team,” he said.
On Wednesday, Mario, his father Mario Sr. and brother Julio — all of whom hail from Bridgeport — and his wife, Kimber, made the three-hour drive from Bradenton to Gainesville for the Huskies’ game against Florida.
First, they stopped by UConn’s hotel, had dinner with the team and shared pictures of Aubrien that the
staff and players hadn’t before seen. Mario addressed the team, telling them what a profound impact the Huskies had on Aubrien, and how this year’s team and its great start has been a “unifier” for the Jimenez family. He distributed wristbands, which tell Aubrien’s story, to the players and staff.
Tears flowed.
“It was such an emotional room to be a part of,” Mario reported.
It certainly was, as Hurley related after Wednesday night’s game.
“It was an emotional day in the hotel, spending time with Kimber and Mario, talking about Aubrien and what that time with her meant last year in March,” the coach said. “Having her dad, who’s an unbelievable coach in his own right, a baseball coach in Florida, talk to the team, I felt like it really, really inspired and focused the group and gave it something even more important to play for. There was no way we were leaving Florida without getting a win for that special family.”
Sure enough, the Huskies dominated again in a 75-54 win over the Gators to improve to 10-0 on the season.
As impactful as UConn has been to the Jimenez family, Aubrien’s story has been reciprocal for the Huskies. A portrait of Aubrien hangs in the UConn locker room at the Werth Center. The team also travels on the road with a picture of her for inspiration.
“They pray before every game,” said Mario, a 2003 Bunnell High graduate, “and include Aubrien in their prayers.”
On Wednesday at the hotel, several players got a chance to share how much Aubrien’s story has meant to them. Jordan Hawkins, in particular.
“He said it changed his life,” Mario noted. “He said he was maybe more selfish in the past, and now, hearing about Aubrien’s story, he’s like a new player, more of a team player.”
After scoring 15 points on Wednesday night, including seven straight Husky points in the second half that helped turn an 11-point lead into a 15-point edge, Hawkins concurred.
“That little girl changed my life,” the sophomore guard said. “The way she just carried herself. She wasn’t worried about herself, even though she was going through so much. It’s really amazing. That family’s amazing. Hopefully, we can build a relationship beyond college.”
“It changed me as a person,” he continued. “That girl was so selfless. She was about other people. She was so positive. It’s hard not to get emotional about it, because she was a special human being on this Earth.”
Hawkins dreams of someday playing in the NBA. So do many of his teammates. Some of them probably will.
But the way Mario Jimenez sees it, that won’t necessarily be the barometer of these players’ success in life. It’s why he’s started the Light of Aubrien Foundation, traveling across the country to discuss the impact his daughter made on so many people, and to help people “see light beyond themselves.”
“We all want to go to the NBA, play pro ball,” Mario noted. “But what if the UConn men’s basketball team is the most connected team in the country? That transcends wins and losses. That’ll take us farther than we ever could go, if we were all just for ourselves going for the NBA. I feel like their mindset right now is different, and I think Aubrien had a small bit to do with that.”