STORRS – The quest for a Husky hat trick begins on Wednesday night when the No. 3 UConn men's basketball team (0-0) lifts the lid on its 2024-25 campaign at Gampel Pavilion. The back-to-back defending national champions welcome in-state foe Sacred Heart (0-0) to campus for a 7 p.m. tip. The contest will air in its entirety on FS1 with John Fanta and Sarah Kustok on the call.

As part of opening night festivities on Wednesday, UConn will unveil its 2024 National Championship banner at Gampel in a pregame ceremony. The banner unveiling is presented by KeyBank*. For fans who are unable to attend the game, the full video of the ceremony will be posted on UConn+ and on the UConn social media channels.

UConn Athletics is suggesting that fans be in their seats by 6:20 p.m. to not miss a moment of the banner ceremony. Doors to Gampel will open at 5:30 p.m. The first 3,500 fans in attendance on Monday night will receive a commemorative National Championship banner rally towel.

Tickets for opening night are sold out. Fans may purchase tickets on the secondary market through SeatGeek, the official fan to fan ticket marketplace of the Huskies.

Connecticut is the back-to-back defending national champions, reaching the zenith with titles in 2023 and 2024 to give the program an astounding six national titles – all since 1999.  Head coach Dan Hurley enters his seventh season at the helm of the Huskies after leading UConn to a 37-3 record a year ago – setting several program records along the way and making history at a place where it's hard to make history.

The Huskies sent four starters to the NBA following the 2024 title, but return a two-year title-winning starter in preseason All-American Alex Karaban (Southborough, Mass.). Karaban averaged career-highs of 13.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and returns to Storrs after testing the NBA Draft waters with a chance to cement a collegiate legacy like no other in the modern era of the sport.

Also back for Connecticut is Hassan Diarra (Queens, N.Y.), who emerged as a star in his role last season and won BIG EAST Sixth Man of the Year honors. Samson Johnson (Lome, Togo) returns in the frontcourt after setting a UConn single-season record with a 72.5 field goal percentage and ranking top-five in the country in dunks a season ago.

The Huskies are banking heavily this season on the player development they have become so adept at under Hurley. The sophomore class of Solo Ball (Leesburg, Va.), Jayden Ross (Bristow, Va.), Youssouf Singare (Bamako, Mali) and Jaylin Stewart (Seattle, Wash.) will all be relied to play larger roles this season after showing plenty of promise in limited action as freshmen.

UConn welcomes five newcomers into the fold with the seven returners, including a pair of high-impact transfers in Aidan Mahaney (Lafayette, Calif.) and Tarris Reed Jr. (St. Louis, Mo.). Mahaney was a two-time All-Conference selection in his two seasons at Saint Mary's and earned Preseason All-BIG EAST Third Team honors. Reed comes to Storrs after two years at Michigan, where he was a regular starter in the B1G as a sophomore.

Liam McNeeley (Richardson, Texas) highlights a talented three-member freshmen class, earning Preseason BIG EAST Freshman of the Year honors last month after a prep career that included McDonald's All-America laurels and a Chipotle National Championship. Isaiah Abraham (Gainesvillle, Va.) and Ahmad Nowell (Philadelphia, Pa.) round out the rookie class and enter the fray as consensus four-star recruits.

Sacred Heart began its season on Monday night, falling 81-70 at Temple. Tanner Thomas led the Pioneers with 22 points and Bryce Johnson posted a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double.

The Huskies will play another challenging non-league slate before conference play begins in late December. After four home games to start the year, Connecticut will take part in the loaded 2024 Maui Invitational before facing top-10 foes Baylor and Gonzaga in December.

The next home game after Wednesday's opener will be the XL Center debut on Saturday, Nov. 9 against New Hampshire.

* About KeyCorp  

KeyCorp's roots trace back nearly 200 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $188 billion at September 30, 2023. 

Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,300 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC.