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There weren’t many people who viewed UConn’s basketball team as the favorite to walk away with a national championship at the 2023 NCAA Tournament, but the four-seeded Huskies managed to do exactly that with a 76-59 win over San Diego State in the title game.
That victory marked the first time UConn had managed to finish the season on top of the rest of the field since Kevin Ollie and his squad conquered March Madness in 2014, which meant students on campus back in Storrs had their first chance to celebrate a national title.
Unfortunately, the festivities were marred by a number of people who took things a bit too far, as revelers flipped over a car and transformed a light post into a battering ram in the wake of the victory.
Car flipped at UCONN following Championship win pic.twitter.com/HKSNW1k1CJ
— @AntonAllTime (@AntonAllTime) April 4, 2023
MY GOD WE HAVE A RIOT AT UCONN pic.twitter.com/B8ZNoylTjR
— New York Sports Exchange (@NYSportsExPod) April 4, 2023
At least 16 people were treated for injuries they sustained during the rowdy celebration, and police eventually arrested close to two dozen rioters (some of whom were not enrolled at UConn), including an unspecified number who were expelled from the university.
Now, we have a clearer idea of exactly how much damage was caused on the night of the team’s championship win, as CT Insider reports a UConn spokesperson issued a statement detailing the results of an initial investigation that estimates the festivities caused at least $122,800 worth of destruction linked to “post-game vandalism on campus.”
The school added that number could end up getting higher once it addresses the various issues and claims it encountered after things died down, saying:
“With those costs included once final invoices are received and paid, the university expects the final cost to be significantly higher than what we were able to reflect in our first round of reporting to auditors.”
At the end of the day, there’s only so much you can do to stop college kids from doing dumb things in the heat of the moment, but I have a feeling UConn will be putting together a plan to prevent similar incidents from unfolding in the future.