AMHERST

Sixteen years ago Wednesday night, the University of Massachusetts left behind the cozy Curry Hicks Cage to open the brand new William D. Mullins Memorial Center.

The building has hosted concerts ranging from the Boston Pops to Counting Crows to 50 Cent. It's housed wrestling, Broadway shows, the circus, and Jehovah's Witness services.

But on most nights the Mullins Center has been home to UMass men's and women's basketball and ice hockey. Those three primary tenants have delivered quite a few memorable games.

In honor of the 16th anniversary here are the 16 best UMass games ever played in the Mullins Center.

16. Jan. 16, 1999 - Men's basketball: UMass 64, No. 15 Kansas 60 - Arguably the biggest win in Bruiser Flint's UMass tenure.

15. Feb. 3, 2004 - Men's basketball: UMass 62, Florida State 58 - Before Tim Duncan visited, Seminoles guard Charlie Ward was the Mullins Center's highest-profile guest.

14. Feb. 28, 1996 - Men's basketball: UMass 68, Saint Joseph's 66 (OT)- Any UMass fan who complains about Lenny Wirtz's call in the 1992 Tournament should remember that the officiating gods atoned when Rigo Nunez drew a game-saving charge that was better acting than anything Kevin Costner ever did.

13. March 10, 2006 - Hockey; UMass 5, Maine 2 - This win gave UMass a first-round series sweep in the Hockey East Tournament and all but clinched the Minutemen's berth in the NCAA Tournament.

12. Jan. 22, 1994 - Men's basketball: UMass 56, George Washington 55 - Marcus Camby's dunk in the closing seconds allows UMass to escape with the win.

11. Feb. 25, 2006 - Men's basketball: UMass 66, Dayton 47 - Former UMass coach John Calipari was the surprise visitor as the Mullins Center floor became Jack Leaman court.

10. Jan. 8, 2005 - Men's basketball: UMass 90, Xavier 86 (3 OT) - The smallest crowd in the history of the Mullins Center saw its longest game. Snow kept the fans away and they missed a classic, which will be forever remembered as the Big Deli game. Jeff Salovski, the 6-foot-10, 360-pound freshman big man, scored 12 of his 21 points in overtime as the Minutemen pulled off the upset.

9. March 13, 2007 - Men's basketball: UMass 89, Alabama 87 (OT) - Chris Lowe hit a jumper with 1.6 seconds left to cap a 19-point, seven-rebound, six assist night in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.

8. Feb. 4, 1993 - Men's basketball: UMass 64, West Virginia 59 (OT) - The grand opening of the new building turned out to be a terrific game as the Minutemen came from 11 points down to fend off the Mountaineers in overtime.

7. Nov. 24, 1995 - Women's basketball: UMass 65, No. 8 Stanford 56 - This game was billed as a homecoming for Cardinal star Jamila Wideman, a former Amherst Regional standout. UMass figured to be the Washington Generals to Stanford's Globetrotters, but behind Tez Kraft's 14 points, the Minutewomen stunned Stanford.

6. Jan. 18, 1995 - Hockey: UMass 4, No. 1 Maine 2 - This was the equivalent of New Jersey Institute of Technology beating North Carolina in men's basketball. Twenty-two months before this game the Minutemen had no program. A year before they were beating up on Division III schools. Maine on the other hand was No. 1 and dominant. Somehow UMass, helped by goaltender Brian Regan's 51 saves, delivered the stunning upset.

5. Dec. 8, 2006 - Hockey: UMass 2, No. 6 Boston College 1 - Matt Burto scored on a late breakaway to give UMass the upset win, a victory that helped earn the Minutemen a spot in the NCAA Tournament later on. In between periods, fans watched the Minuteman football team upset Montana.

4. Dec. 6, 2002 - Hockey: UMass 5, Boston University 4 (OT) - The Minutemen trailed 4-1 in the second period against a school that had dominated them over the years. But three third-period goals and Chris Capraro's game-winner in overtime gave UMass a turning-point win in program history. Every fan who left the building that night knew that the Minutemen weren't the Hockey East kick-arounds any longer.

3. Dec. 9, 2004 - Men's basketball: UMass 61, No. 7 UConn 59 - I have two enduring memories from the aftermath of this game. The first is Rashaun Freeman standing on the scorers' table smiling as the sea of court-rushing fans celebrated around him. The second is coach Steve Lappas, after hugging his wife, turning to me to say that Jack Leaman must have been looking down and looking out for the Minutemen that night.

2. Dec. 6, 1995 - Men's basketball: No. 3 UMass 60, No. 10 Wake Forest 46 - Camby vs. Duncan. In truth this wasn't much of a game, but the atmosphere was unmatched. For one night Amherst was the center of the college basketball universe. Dick Vitale headlined a gaggle of national media in the building. There's never been a tougher ticket in college hoops in the state of Massachusetts.

1. Feb. 13, 1994 - Men's basketball: No. 11 UMass 56, No. 8 Temple 55 - People still walk into the Mullins Center's green room and ask "Is this the John Chaney room?" Because the Temple coach attacked Calipari afterward, few people remember what a terrific game preceded that. Before Mike Williams helped block Chaney's path to Calipari, he hit a 10-footer in the closing seconds to clinch the win.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage, including a UMass sports blog, go to http://www.gazettenet.com/category/sports/umass-sports.