Post-game breakdown: Yale
Coach Kevin Ollie delivered a blunt assessment of his basketball following a second straight last-second loss.
Yale 45, UConn 44.
His main theme: toughness.
“We’ve got to get tougher as a group,” Ollie said. “I just don’t see it from my frontcourt. I don’t see it from my backcourt. Toughness is not just going to hit somebody. Toughness is being mentally tough.
“We have to do that. We’ve got to get stops. I think we got stops. But at the end of the game you have to be mentally strong and communicate. As a team, right now, we’re not doing it.”
The Huskies have dropped consecutive games at Gampel Pavilion on last-second 3-pointers from exact same corner.
First, Jonathan Holmes buried a game-winner with two seconds left on Sunday to hand Texas a 55-54 victory.
It was Jack Montague’s turn on Friday, as the Yale junior’s jumper with 1.7 seconds remaining secured a 45-44 victory.
The Huskies had won 68 straight games against in-state foes dating back to 1986.
They’ve lost three in row overall to fall to 3-3.
They’re on exam break until Dec. 14 when CoppinState visits the XL Center.
Here’s some news, notes and quotes:
-- Entering Friday’s game, the Huskies had received high marks in the rebounding department.
They earned poor grades for their effort on Friday.
Yale out-worked UConn under the basket, holding a 36-25 edge. Active forward Justin Sears led the Bulldogs with a game-high 15 rebounds.
The Huskies managed just one offensive rebound.
That’s right, one.
“One thing I was really hanging our hat on was our rebounding and it just let us down,” Ollie said. “I’ve never seen it before in my life -- one offensive rebound in a game.”
-- Give senior Ryan Boatright credit.
He played with a sprained left ankle that forced him to missed some practice time this week. He suffered the injury against Texas.
It affected his play.
Boatright finished with a season-low six points on 3-for-9 shooting. He also had six assists, four rebounds and four turnovers in 35 minutes.
“I applaud his effort out there, because a lot of people are sitting on that bench hurting,” Ollie said. “I know his ankle hurts and he got out there and played.”
Rodney Purvis (high left ankle sprain) was limited to eight minutes – all in the first half. He missed all three shots.
“He was limping around,” Ollie said. “I just didn’t think he was effective. Just giving him a chance to heal.”
Junior reserve Omar Calhoun (knee) sat out. He has yet to play this season.
-- In the last two games, UConn’s defensive strategy was to switch on screens during the game-deciding possession.
That didn’t happen in either case.
Boatright called out a switch with Sam Cassell Jr., who was late getting over to Montague, who missed his first six shots before converting from the corner.
“I thought I saw a guy come through the middle, then the guy went to the corner,” Cassell said. “So that was my fault.”
Overall, UConn played terrific defense, limiting Yale to just 32.7 percent.
-- The Huskies started slow, trailing 22-9. They went just 8-for-23 from the field in the first half and fell behind, 24-19.
They played better offensively in the second half, converting 11 of 20 from the field. But they couldn’t make enough shots against Yale’s zone down the stretch.
-- UConn led only twice in the first 37 minutes. Then the Huskies let slip a 44-40 lead with 22.6 seconds remaining.
-- The Huskies are a poor offensive team right now, averaging just 49 points in the last two games.
They scored under 50 points only once last year, losing 81-48 to Louisville on March 8.
Friday’s point total was their lowest in a game since losing to Syracuse, 59-42, in February of 1999.
-- Only two Huskies scored in double figures – Brimah with a season-high tying 14 points and Cassell with 12.
Cassell broke out of a slump that saw him sink just 6 of 27 shots in the four games leading up to Friday. He went 4-for-6, including hitting two of three from beyond the arc.
-- UConn last dropped three straight near the end of the 2012-13 season, falling to Georgetown, Cincinnati and South Florida.
There’s no shame in losing to Yale, which improved to 8-2. The Bulldogs are expected to contend for the Ivy League title.
-- Prior to playing Texas, a non-conference team hadn’t won a regular season game at Gampel Pavilion since 1993.
Now two teams own wins in less than a week.
“This is our home,” Cassell said. “We’re not supposed to be losing at home like this.”
UConn’s overall record at Gampel stands at 78-6.
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