Rudy Gay's stay was brief on the UConn Campus in the Mid 2000's. But while there, he played a role in keeping the Huskies atop the Big East and contending for NCAA Championships...Rudy grew up in Baltimore watching his dad perform as the lead singer for the R&B group Ace Spectrum and was the band director for the Stylistics....In fact Rudy didn't start playing basketball until he was 12. But it didn't take long for his game to develop. Playing on a successful Cecil-Kirk AAU Team at 14 and leading his Eastern Technical HS Team to the state semi's in College Park during his sophomore year....He transferred to Archbishop Spalding for his final two years of HS ball in what was a bit of a controversial move. But in his senior season, his 21ppg, 9rpg, 4 blocks per game earned him the Baltimore Sun Co-Player of the Year in 2003-04...Along with McDonald's and Parade All American Honors. The recruiting battle also a bit of a story that gained attention....It came down to UConn & Maryland....the story is interesting as it came down to UConn based on a potential "barnstorming game" with Gay's AAU Buddies, The Beltway Ballers and a check...It was a factor in changing "exhibitions" to Division II and III Teams only...
The Huskies were coming off the 2004 National Championship and there was some turnover with Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon and Talik Brown gone....Gay fit right in with Denham Brown, Josh Boone, Rashad Anderson, Hilton Armstrong, Charlie Villanueva and Marcus Williams...His debut November 20th of 2004 in a win over Buffalo as Rudy scored 8 points in his debut. The first of 22 double figure games the next game against Florida International with 12, then recorded his only double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in a 74-69 win over Indiana....He put together a seven game stretch of double figure games from December 9th thru January 5th.....Once Big East Play began, Gay played a bigger role as he found himself in the starting lineup from December 19th on....14 in a win over Rutgers, 18 and 7 boards against Seton Hall...and a big 17-9 effort in a win over Villanova in Hartford...In 10 of 12 games, Gay continued his scoring ways...His best game point wise, 20 in a win over Georgetown at Gampel....Come postseason, UConn lost in the Big East Semi's to Syracuse where Gay scored 17 and 12 in the Big East Tournament....He'd add 17 in the NCAA Opening win in Worcester against UCF...But in the 2nd round loss to NC State, Gay was just 1 of 5 with 4 points and 3 rebounds.....Rusy averaged just shy of 12 ppg and 5 rebounds per game with 59 blocks and a team high 47% from three point range..It earned him Big East Rookie of the Year and the Sporting News National Freshman of the Year where the Huskies finished 23-8 with a 13-3 conference record where the Huskies were the Co-Champs in the regular season.....
Gay's sophomore season he took a step up on another talented UConn Team....Where Rudy opened with a double double of 15p-10r while adding 5 blocks in a win at Pepperdine before the Huskies headed west for the Maui Invitational..28 against Arkansas in the opener. Then 10 in a narrow victory over Gonzaga in the Title Game in which Denham Brown won the game with a late buzzer beater...The first of six straight double figure games that included a 22 point performance in a home win against New Hampshire...He'd miss the Dec 30th win over Quinnipiac to injury before his roll began...a 15 game double figure stretch..19p-8 r in a Civic Center win over LSU, 20p-8r v St John's in Storrs, and a monster 22p-13r effort against Syracuse in Hartford among the better efforts...The Huskies would again win the Big East Title at 14-2, but the Tournament stay was short when the Orange beat UConn in overtime 86-84...Gay a 12 point,7 rebound effort...The Huskies had high hopes in the NCAA's..They escaped the first round in Philadelphia against Albany before a solid 4 point win over Kentucky to send the Huskies to DC..Gay had 19 in the win over the Wildcats....In the Sweet 16, Gay scored 12 as UConn and Washington battled into OT where the National Flag Blue survived...But waiting them in the Elite 8, the Cinderella Patriots of George Mason who were now playing a "home game" at the Verizon Center...While Gay scored 20 points and had 6 boards...The Pats beat UConn in OT and ended the Huskies season at 30-4. Rudy score 503 points (15.2 per game) 52 blocks, 58 steals, 6 double-doubles and 27 double figure games plus 7, 20 point games....All Big East and a Consensus All American for the 6-8 forward's efforts...
Long and lean, Gay decided on entering the NBA Draft on April 17, 2006 where he'd go 8th overall to Houston, but was traded to Memphis. Where he scored 11 points per game and earned NBA All Rookie Team Honors...He was the leagues' Most Improved Player in 2008 as he scored 1,632 points (20 ppg) and took part in the Slam Dunk Contest on All Star Weekend....He's played 14 years in the NBA with stops in Toronto and Sacramento (21ppg in 2013-14) before landing in San Antonio after an achilles injury. He's coming off the bench averaging 10 ppg in the 2019-20 season playing for Gregg Popovich and the Spurs...Internationally with USA Basketball, he's been on World Championship teams in 2010 and 2014.
Rudy Gay was an Ambassador for the Hoops for St Jude in Memphis and donated $20,000, earning him an NBA Cares Community Assist Award in March 2010....Rudy Gay, a two season wonder in Storrs, but his stay impactful as he was a consensus All American in 2006...making him a UConn Legend...