UConn basketball is giving one Huskies legend his roses after all these years. Emeka Okafor returns to the Storrs spotlight — this time to have his jersey retirement ceremony in front of Dan Hurley and company.
The Huskies will finally honor the past national champion on Wednesday, Feb. 18, with Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports revealing the news Monday. UConn will hang Okafor's famed No. 50 above the Gampel Pavilion rafters while the Huskies take on Big East rival Creighton.
Okafor will join Richard “Rip” Hamilton and Ray Allen as the latest past NBA talents to have their uniform hanging inside the arena.
Famed women's basketball stars Swin Cash, Rebecca Lobo and Sue Bird also have their uniforms retired. But now Okafor will see his name emblazoned following his impactful run at UConn.
Emeka Okafor impact at UConn
This is UConn honoring a past national champion from the early 2000s.
Okafor earned All-American status in the 2003-04 season — also the Huskies' second national title winning team.
The Houston native averaged a career-high 17.9 points per game. But also blocked 4.1 shots a game for the national champs. That Huskies team rolled to a 33-6 overall mark and took down Georgia Tech to close out the title run.
The Huskies toppled other powers along the way too with Okafor leading the bigs — beating Vanderbilt, Alabama and also knocking off Duke inside the Alamo Dome during the Final Four.
UConn remains a national title game contender under Hurley. He's since brought two national crowns back to Storrs post Jim Calhoun, who coached Okafor.
