This marks the end of our three-week project of naming the best player to wear each jersey number in UConn men’s basketball history.
The Athletic ran a similar project, with UConn writer Charlotte Carroll making an excellent list for both the men’s and women’s basketball programs. If you missed our first two rankings, we divided the numbers up, first from 0-through-15, followed by 20-through-35. This week, we finish things up with Nos. 40-through-55.
40 – Travis Knight: A four-year player in the mid-1990s, Knight nearly averaged a double-double in his final two years (a combined 9.1 points, 8.7 rebounds), even though didn’t start full-time until his senior season in 1995-96. That year the Huskies won the Big East regular season and tournament titles, and at MSG he was named to the All-Tournament team.
A late first-round pick by the Bulls, Knight spent seven seasons in the NBA, winning a title with the Lakers in 2000.
We’d be remiss not to mention the best single-season by a No. 40. Nadav Henefeld was only in Storrs for a single year, but he was the 1990 Big East Rookie of the Year and set a Division-I freshman record with 138 steals. After that “Dream Season” he returned to Israel to embark on a pro career.
41 – Al Cooper: Cooper is one of just six UConn players to average a double-double for his career (11.9 points, 10.6 rebounds). Spanning 1956-59, Cooper was a two-time Yankee Conference first-team performer, and it could have been three times had a broken hand not hampered his senior season.
Gary Custick is an honorable mention, averaging 12.7 points for his career, including a phenomenal sophomore season in 1971-72 in which he averaged 18.3 points and 8.6 rebounds.
42 – Toby Kimball: This is the hardest of any UConn number from which to choose. Consider on the All-Century team alone, Kimball, Donyell Marshall, Tony Hanson and Khalid El-Amin all wore No. 42. Marshall was UConn’s first-ever All-American in 1994, when he averaged 25.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game. Hanson’s 1,990 points remains third all-time at UConn, and his 26.0 points in 1976-77 is the second-highest single-season average ever. And though El-Amin’s stats don’t compare, no one before or since has donned a UConn jersey with as much swagger.
So why Kimball? For starters, only Art Quimby can compare with Kimball’s combined production on the score sheet (1,361 points) and the glass (1,324 rebounds). His career per game averages were 18.4 points and 17.9 rebounds. His 63 double-doubles is second all-time behind Quimby, and his streak of 38 straight double-doubles will never be touched.
43 – Jake Voskuhl: The all-time leader in games started, the center was on the court for the opening tip 135 times in his 138 career games played. Not a huge scorer (6.3 PPG average), Voskuhl actually had more rebounds (880; ninth all-time) than points (863) in his UConn career. A starter on the 1999 championship team, he enjoyed a nine-year journeyman NBA career, most notably with the Suns in the mid-2000s.
44 – Wes Bialosuknia: There may not have been a better pure scorer in UConn history. In three seasons (1964-67) Bialosuknia averaged 23.6 points per game, the highest in program history by nearly three full points. Decades before the introduction of the three-point line, he was a lethal sharpshooter who still holds the school record with 17 30-point performances.
The three-time Yankee Conference first-teamer finished his career with 1,673 points (12th all-time) before spending a lone pro season in the ABA.
45 – Eric Hayward: A role player on the dominant mid-1990s UConn teams, Hayward played in 127 games in Storrs. He averaged 3.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game for his career.
50 – Emeka Okafor: The most prolific shot-blocker in UConn history (441 in three years), Okafor and Ben Gordon led the Huskies to the 2004 national title. The Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player, Okafor scored 18 points (all after halftime) in the national semifinal comeback against Duke, before torching Georgia Tech in the championship game to the tune in 24 points and 15 rebounds. A consensus All-American and the Big East Player and Defensive Player of the Year, ask any Connecticut fan and they’ll still get mad that Jameer Nelson, not Okafor, took home national PoY honors.
For his career he had 1,426 points (23rd all-time), 1,091 rebounds (4th) and 53 double-doubles (3rd) before spending 10 seasons in the NBA, where he nearly averaged a double-double for his career.
51 – Edmund Saunders: The only player at UConn to wear No. 51, the Waterbury native averaged 6.0 points off the bench his first year as part of the 1999 title team. That production would see an uptick in his final two years with the Huskies, including a 9.9-point, 7.2-rebound average in 2000-01.
52 – Corny Thompson: One person in program history is top-10 all-time in both points and rebounds, and his name isn’t Okafor, Quimby or Kimball. Thompson wasn’t the biggest forward (standing at 6-foot-8) but the three-time All-Big East performer could produce with the best of them. Averaging 15.9 points and 8.9 rebounds for his career, he was the Huskies’ first All-Big East first team selection (done in both 1981 and 1982).
The Middletown native finished his career with 1,810 points and 1,017 rebounds, and only Chris Smith had more double-figure scoring games than Thompson’s 101. His 496 made free throws was the school record before Kemba Walker and Shabazz Napier both passed him in the last decade.
53 – Jeff Cybart: The only player to wear No. 53, Cybart played in 11 games between the 1995-96 and 1997-98 seasons, never scoring and grabbing four rebounds. The walk-on from Orange might be most known for sporting a black eye on his senior night, care of an Antric Klaiber elbow in practice.
54 – No one has worn No. 54 at UConn.
55 – Dan Cyrulik: Cyrulik was a role player for most of his career, averaging 2.8 points per game from 1988-92. Appearing in 122 games, his best year came as a sophomore in 1989-90, when he averaged 3.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game for the “Dream Season” Huskies. That includes a double-double in a January 1990 game against St. John’s.