Hi and welcome to The Dream Season Podcast, an oral history of the 1989-90 UConn men’s basketball season, also known as, The Dream Season.
This Episode 15, Heartbreak
Following the last-second, miraculous win over Clemson in the Sweet Sixteen, the UConn Huskies were just 40 minutes away from a destination that was beyond the wildest dreams of any UConn fan just a few months earlier. The Final Four.
Standing in their way were the Duke Blue Devils from the ACC. Duke was looking to make the Final Four for the third consecutive year.
Duke was 27-8 on the season and the #3 seed in the East. They finished second in the ACC regular season standings and fell to Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament semifinals. They were led by freshman point guard Bobby Hurley, who set the Duke single-season assist record, as well as fellow guard, senior Phil Henderson, their leading scorer at 18 points per game. Their inside presence was anchored with big men Alaa Abdelnaby and Christian Laettner.
Duke’s head coach, Mike Krzyzewski, was the winningest active coach in the NCAA Tournament, with a 19-6 record headed into the matchup with UConn.
The Blue Devils were quite comfortable playing in The Meadowlands, as this would be their third consecutive trip to the East Regional Finals, and fourth out of the last five years, with all of them being played in the Brendan Byrne Arena, where Duke was 7-0 all-time.
Duke had defeated UCLA 90-81 a few hours after the Huskies defeated Clemson to advance to the regional finals. Earlier in the tournament, they also dispatched Richmond and St. John’s.
As for the Huskies, the win over Clemson improved their season record to 31-5 and extended their winning streak to 7 games.
Despite the euphoria following Scott and Tate’s heroics, Coach Jim Calhoun had some concerns. In letting Clemson come back from a 19 point deficit, the Huskies didn’t force a steal in the second half and turned the ball over 8 times in the final 12 minutes of the game. Foul trouble was also an issue, as Nadav Henefeld sat for most of the second half with four fouls. (As a reminder, the six foul rule that was in place for all Big East games was not in effect in the NCAA tournament, with five fouls being the limit.)
Calhoun chalked the Clemson comeback up to inexperience from the younger players and the fact that his team had stopped attacking Clemson. He was confident that would not be an issue in the Duke game.
The last time UConn had been one game away from the Final Four was all the way back in 1964.
That year, only 25 teams made the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies beat Temple 53-48 in the first round. In the Sweet Sixteen, UConn defeated Bill Bradley and the Princeton Tigers in one of the greatest wins in school history, 52-50. Future head coach Dom Perno stole the ball from Bradley with 18 seconds left in the game to seal the win.
Ironically, UConn’s opponent in the next game was none other than the Duke Blue Devils.
Duke jumped on the Huskies from the opening tip and cruised to a 101-54 victory to advance to the Final Four.
As for the 1990 matchup, Duke’s Coach K spoke with UConn Radio Network’s Wayne Norman:
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Game time was set for 1:40 PM on Saturday, March 24. CBS Sports Dick Stockton and Hubie Brown set the stage:
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Both teams began the game cold, with each shooting 1 for 5 from the floor to start.
The Huskies opened up a 10-4 lead on a Tate George 18 foot jump shot.
After a Christian Laettner three point play cut the UConn lead to 3, Toraino Walker checked in.
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The five quick points from Walker gave the Huskies a 15-9 lead with 14 minutes left in the first half.
Then UConn picked up their 7th team foul with 12 minutes remaining in the half, putting Duke in the bonus.
Following a Nadav Henefeld driving layup, the Huskies led 23-21 at the 8 minute mark.
Then the Blue Devils embarked on a 9-0 run.
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After the Henderson 3, Duke led 30-23 with 5:10 left in the half.
The margin remained 7 at halftime, with the score Duke 37, UConn 30.
The Huskies were outscored 26-15 in the paint, with the majority of the damage being inflicted by Alaa Abdelnaby, who had 17 points in the half, two points more than his season average.
UConn also turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, two less than their average for an entire game.
The main issue for the Huskies was foul trouble. In addition to putting Duke in the bonus more than halfway through the half, three players had two fouls apiece. This forced UConn to be less-aggressive with their defensive pressure and the Blue Devils took full advantage.
UConn was just 1-5 on the season while trailing at halftime, with the lone win coming against Georgetown in the Big East Tournament.
The second half began with two Christian Laettner free throws to push the Duke lead to 9 at 39-30.
Then the Huskies started to roll. Four points from Chris Smith and a Tate George jumper made the score 41-36, Duke.
Tate stayed hot:
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At the 17:10 mark of the half, Scott Burrell picked up his 3rd foul and just 40 seconds later, Tate picked up his 4th.
But the Huskies were unfazed.
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The conventional three point play by John Gwynn put UConn up 49-47.
Gwynn scored 9 consecutive points for the Huskies, which was then followed by a Dan Cyrulik baseline jumper to give UConn a 55-53 lead.
With 11:11 left in the half, the Huskies went over the limit for fouls and Duke was back in the bonus.
Two minutes later, Burrell picked up his 4th foul and was forced back to the bench.
However, John Gwynn continued his torrid second half.
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Gwynn’s basket gave the Huskies the lead at 65-63 with just under 6 minutes remaining in the game.
It was 67-64 UConn as the 4 minute mark approached:
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Burrell fouled out with 3:41 left in the game and the Huskies leading 69-64. Scott finished with 12 points and 5 rebounds in only 22 minutes of action.
Phil Henderson made both free throws and shortly after, a Brian Davis layup trimmed the UConn lead to 69-68.
That was the score with 1:30 left when Gwynn lost the ball in the lane, giving Duke possession with 1:05 left on the clock.
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Henderson’s 3 pointer gave Duke a 71-69 lead. Calhoun called timeout with 45.5 seconds left.
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Following the George miss, Abdelnaby controlled the rebound before passing the ball to Bobby Hurley, who was fouled by Gwynn, stopping the clock with 16.8 seconds left. Hurley went to the line to shoot a 1 and 1 and potentially push the Duke lead to four points.
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After Hurley missed his second attempt, Chris Smith grabbed the rebound, gave the ball up to George who dribbled up the court and promptly gave the ball back to Smith. Smith drilled a 24 foot jumper from just inside the NBA 3 point line to tie the game at 72.
Duke called time out with 8.3 seconds left and had to go the length of the court to try to win the game.
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Following a no-call on a collision between Hurley and Henefeld, Hurley’s shot was blocked out of bounds by Rod Sellers, leaving just 0.3 seconds on the clock.
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Abdelnaby’s shot attempt at the buzzer just missed and the game headed to overtime.
The Huskies were 1-0 on the season in overtime games, defeating Providence 75-72 back on February 19, while Duke was 1-1.
UConn won the overtime tip and Tate George immediately found Toraino Walker wide open under the basket to give the Huskies a 74-72 lead.
On Duke’s next possession, Walker stole a Hurley pass intended for Laettner, but the Huskies could not capitalize.
The Blue Devils took advantage when Henderson hit his fourth three pointer of the game to put Duke up 75-74.
George found a cutting Henefeld for an easy layup to put the Huskies back up 76-75 with 2:45 left but Laettner responded a few moments later with his own easy bucket.
With 1:28 remaining, Henderson was called for an offensive foul, sending Henefeld to the line to shoot a 1 and 1.
Nadav missed the first but Abdelnaby grabbed the ball while it was still in the cylinder, resulting in a goaltending call and a made free throw. Henefeld sank the second and the Huskies had the lead back at 78-77, with 1:30 left.
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After George missed a baseline jumper with 12 seconds left in the overtime, Hurley attempted a pass to Henderson, which Tate anticipated perfectly. Unfortunately he couldn’t control the ball and it bounced off his hands with 2.6 seconds showing on the clock.
Following a Duke timeout, it was Duke’s ball on the sideline.
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And just like that, the Dream Season was over.
The suddenness of the end was especially tough for the team to process.
Chris Smith:
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Steve Pikiell:
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Dave Leitao:
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Tim Tolokan
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Jim Calhoun:
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Here’s Nadav in the locker room following the game:
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Here’s Nadav thinking back to that moment three decades later:
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Coach Leitao recalls watching Tate nearly secure the win, as well as a mistake he made in the final moments of overtime:
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Despite the outcome, the game was an all-time classic. Obviously, the ending makes it tough for UConn fans to remember fondly and for everyone else, it was overshadowed by what Laettner and Duke did two years later against Kentucky.
There were 17 lead changes and 16 ties in the game. Chris Smith hit an incredibly difficult and clutch three pointer to send the game to overtime. “What-if’s” abounded for the Huskies but the bottom line was, the Dream Season was over.
UConn radio play by play man Bob Huessler:
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Former UConn beat reporter for the Norwich Bulletin, Pete Abraham:
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Long-time UConn radio color analyst Wayne Norman:
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Immediately after consoling his team in the locker room, Jim Calhoun met the media and made it very clear how he felt about his guys:
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But there was still one more part of the story for the Huskies on this day.
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Around 7 PM, about three and half hours after the game ended, students and other fans began to gather outside Gampel Pavilion in anticipation of the team’s arrival back on campus. The team bus was delayed during the journey, as is typical during a trip from northern New Jersey to Connecticut.
The crowd swelled in size, eventually lining both sides of Hillside Road before the doors to Gampel Pavilion were opened. An impromptu pep rally began, aided by the arrival of the pep band and cheerleaders.
Around 10:20 pm, the team bus finally arrived to around 4,000 fans waiting inside Gampel to show their appreciation for what the team accomplished. And it was just what the team needed.
Chris Smith:
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Rod Sellers:
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Coach Calhoun addressed the crowd:
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Coming up on the next episode of The Dream Season Podcast, the lasting legacy of the 1989-90 UConn men’s basketball team.
The Dream Season Podcast is researched, written & produced by me, Matt Edwards.
Written sources for this episode are the archives of the Hartford Courant archives and The Daily Campus. Audio content is from interviews I conducted, YouTube and Wayne Norman’s archives.
You can connect with the show via Twitter and Instagram at DREAMSEASONPOD
If you have any memories to share about anything I just mentioned, want to correct me on something I screwed up or just have general feedback to give, send me an email at dreamseasonpodATgmail.com or call and leave me a message at (903) 884 - EIGHTY NINE NINETY.
After I’m done with the regular episodes of the show, I’d love to have at least one episode that consists entirely of your memories of the Dream Season. Either leave a brief message at the above number or email me with an audio recording of your recollections, along with your name and location, and I will include them in that episode.
As always, thank you so much for listening!!