It's a weird match made in heaven, thanks largely in part to Tyler Polley. When UConn was down 18 in the second half to Marquette on January 5, Huskies fan Bryan Jackson posted on Twitter that he'd eat a spoonful of hot sauce if Connecticut won the game.
Well, 23 Tyler Polley points later, the Huskies did just that - and a phenomenon was born.
The tweet went viral, and soon a challenge and a charity were tied together: UConn fans started chugging hot sauce, while donating to the Husky Ticket Project, a group that helps provide UConn tickets to kids. The goals at first were $10 thousand, then $15, 20, etc. As of Monday, the group had raised over $50,000 in donations. And the university has taken it up a notch, announcing it would soon be releasing its own flavored hot sauces.
While it's all for a great cause, of course, it's also amusing to watch people's assorted reactions to downing pure hot sauce. From famous UConn alums to fans alike, here are the best:
Mason Feole: No one has participated quite like the UConn baseball team, who has seemingly jumped in head-first into the challenge (just look at the last week of @UConnBSB on Twitter). Player after player has posted videos, but none have quite topped former Husky and current Padres prospect Mason Feole. Playing on the recently viral Cranberry Juice guy, the pitcher rode a skateboard while drinking hot sauce straight from the bottle.
Dan Hurley: The head coach of the Huskies participated in the challenge. Shortly after gaining a commitment from four-star recruit Corey Floyd, Jr., Hurley and his wife, Andrea, posted their challenge video (Floyd is the presumptive "second huge win of the week"). We'd expect nothing less from "Captain Brutality".
Chris Smith: The men's all-time leading scorer jumped in (his Twitter handle, by the way, is @huskiesalltime1, which is a great flex) after being challenged by fellow alumnus (and 1,000-point scorer) Rod Sellers. They are just a couple of the many alums to take the challenge.
Dan Orlovsky: The best quarterback in school history and current ESPN analyst, Orlovsky dutifully accepted his challenge from Corey Edsall, the tight ends coach at UConn. He most certainly did not enjoy the experience, though, based on his priceless reaction.
It should be noted that while head coach Randy Edsall didn't drink any hot sauce, he donated $10,000 to the cause -- kudos, coach.
UConn WBB: The entire women's basketball team participated together in the challenge. While most of the players had some sort of visceral reaction - especially Paige Bueckers - Geno Auriemma proved once again why he's the GOAT after drinking it down like it was a sip of his finest wine.
UConn men's hockey: The Ice Bus is hot, fresh off a weekend sweep of New Hampshire and starting to garner some national attention. On Monday they cranked it up a notch by downing shots of hot sauce together after practice.
David Benedict: Accountability goes straight to the top! Athletic director David Benedict took the challenge last week. His reaction is also good: trying to decipher whether he likes it, then the heat kicks on and for a split-second it hits him: hot sauce is, in fact, hot.