Storrs — First Night is a memorable and revealing experience for any UConn basketball newcomer.

It's the first time freshmen from both the men's and women's teams step into the spotlight while showing off their talents, personality and dance moves before adoring fans at Gampel Pavilion.

"This is different," men's coach Kevin Ollie said. "There's not a lot of dancing and not a lot of music in our practice."

Anything can happen when you put a nervous newcomer in that situation. Just ask freshman Mamadou Diarra, who struggled on his three attempts during the dunk contest during Friday's First Night but still received decent scores from a sympathetic panel of judges.

Not that it really matters. The purpose is just to have fun.

"You hope that it is fun and it's not somebody going out there being so nervous and embarrassing themselves then feeling worse the next day because they didn't get anything accomplish," women's coach Geno Auriemma said before festivities began.

"I don't need tonight to know that our freshmen don't know anything about anything because we had two days of practices. And there was nobody in the stands and they could barely get up and down the floor without having a heart attack."

Thankfully, no one had a heart attack on Friday night.

Both Ollie and Auriemma, who led the Huskies to their unprecedented fourth straight national title last season, might endure their share of heart burn. Highly-touted newcomers are expected to play a prominent role for both programs. Eight players are either freshmen or sophomores for the men while the women are welcoming in three freshmen and two transfers.

The regular-season opener for both is roughly a month away.

"It's been tough because we're teaching them a lot, especially with all the new guys and having eight players sophomores and freshmen," Ollie said.

All Auriemma has to do is replace three All-Americans in Morgan Tuck, Moriah Jefferson and Breanna Stewart, who also was the consensus national player of the year.

"I try not to dwell on it," Auriemma said. "This particular team, the last three things that they want to hear is Stewie, Tuck and Moriah."

For at least one night, the Huskies could relax and cut loose before roughly 8,000 fans.

Festivities kicked into high gear with player introductions. With the lights turned down, spotlights on and music blaring, one by one, the players walked out from behind a curtain and onto a raised stage at one end of Gampel Pavilion.

Some players showed off their dances moves, including an animated Kia Nurse, while others were more subdued. Auriemma, a Hall of Fame coach and All-American wise guy, critiqued what he saw.

"They all think they can dance and all of (you) tell them that they're pretty good, but they're lying," Auriemma said while addressing the crowd. "They're not that good. But what they're really good at is playing basketball."

After an intra-squad scrimmage, players mingled on the floor with family, friends and fans. Seven-foot center Amida Brimah towered over children while posing for photos.

It's back to plain old basketball practice on Saturday.

"When you wake up in the morning, it's reality," Ollie said. "You get back to work. They've got to hear my mouth again. I'm not the smiley guy like tonight."

News and notes

• Sophomore Steven Enoch, a former St. Thomas More standout, won the dunk contest. ... Sophomore Jalen Adams didn't play in the First Night scrimmage, which was won by Team Geno, 51-45. He's been dealing with a hip strain that has limited him and also recently caught a knee in the thigh, which swelled up on Thursday. "We're just being very, very cautious with him and making sure this thing can settle down a little bit and then he can be the Jalen Adams that we know he can be," Ollie said. ... For both programs, First Night is a big night for recruits to visit. The Putnam Science Academy basketball team, including marquee Class of 2017 recruit Hamidou Diallo, attended the show as well as numerous other recruits. Diarra graduated from PSA last year.

g.keefe@theday.com