Women's Fastbreak On SI

Vanessa Bryant Pays UConn Touching Tribute After NCAA National Championship Win

Vanessa Bryant, widowed wife of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, showed the UConn Huskies love after the national championship.
Grant Young|
Feb 8, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Vanessa Bryant speaks during a ceremony for the unveiling of a statue for former Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant at Star Plaza outside of Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images
Feb 8, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Vanessa Bryant speaks during a ceremony for the unveiling of a statue for former Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant at Star Plaza outside of Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images | Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images

Few people in the basketball community are more adored than Vanessa Bryant, who was the wife of late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.

The sport of basketball as a whole rallied around Bryant when her husband and daughter Gianna (who went by Gigi) were tragically killed in a helicopter accident in Calabasas, California, on January 26, 2020.

Vanessa Bryant has done a fantastic job of making sure that Kobe and Gianna's legacies are remembered, and continues to be a positive force within the basketball, business, and philanthropy worlds.

Vanessa, most other women's college basketball fans and supporters, was watching the 2025 NCAA national championship game between the UConn Huskies and South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday. And after the Huskies produced a dominant victory, she took to her Instagram to deliver a heartfelt message to the team.

"Gigi would have loved being there with you. 'When you think you can't, UCONN' - Gianna Bryant 💔❤️ Congratulations @genoauriemma @uconnwbb," the story wrote.

Gianna was a massive UConn Huskies fan. A January 2020 article from CNN wrote, "It was well known that Mambacita wanted to be a University of Connecticut Husky... Gigi, as she was known, always wanted to play for the Huskies, who have lifted a record 11 championship trophies and whose coach, Geno Auriemma, is arguably the best hoops skipper of all time."

UConn honored Gianna Bryant by draping a No. 2 jersey (the number she wore) over one of their bench seats one day after her passing. A bouquet wrapped in blue and white ribbons was in front of it.

The X post was captioned, “Mambacita is forever a Husky 💙”.

Vanessa's message conveys a beautiful full-circle moment that encapsulates the healing power of sports.

Recommended Reading:

Published
Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

Share on XFollow GrvntYoung
Home/News