Post-game breakdown: Memphis
UConn suffered a crushing 54-53 loss to Memphis Thursday night at Gampel Pavilion, spoiling Senior Night.
The Huskies lacked focus and a sense of urgency in an important American Athletic Conference game.
“I just didn’t know where their mindset was today…,” coach Kevin Ollie said. “We just didn’t execute.”
UConn (17-12, 10-7) fell into a tie for fifth place with Memphis (18-12, 10-7). The top five teams will earn a first round bye in next week’s AAC tournament in Hartford.
Here’s a post-game breakdown:
-- After perhaps their best offensive game in Sunday’s 81-73 upset of SMU, they stumbled badly against the Tigers, shooting a season-low 27.8 percent.
“We just didn’t move the basket all and took a lot of ill-advised shots,” Ollie said. “In the SMU game, the ball was moving and everybody was touching the ball.”
They started cold and stayed that way, finishing a combined 15 for 54 from the field. They took bad shots and missed open shots, too. They also had single digits in assists (seven) for only the sixth time this season.
“We took too many contested shots and we didn’t stay in our offense…,” Boatright said. “And we simply didn’t make shots.”
-- Rodney Purvis, who scored a career-high 28 points against SMU, had a stinker, missing all seven field goal attempts. All three of his points came from the foul line.
Boatright and freshman Daniel Hamilton hit a combined 9 of 29 shots, finishing with 14 and 16 points, respectively.
There was no help from the bench. UConn's reserves contributed just nine points.
-- It was UConn’s third loss at Gampel Pavilion this season. The Huskies had never dropped more than two games in a season since the building opened in 1990.
-- The Tigers roared out to a 22-9 lead and pushed around the Huskies, who took awhile to push back.
“They played with a chip on their shoulder,” Ollie said.
-- Upset over his team’s lackadaisical play at the start, Ollie used a quick hook. He even inserted walk-on Dan Guest, who had played only eight minutes the entire season prior to Thursday.
"I was just looking for somebody that was going to play with some urgency," Ollie said. "I’d put him in again. I was just trying to find somebody on that bench that can come in and be productive and do what I want on the basketball court and execute."
Guest missed his only shot in three minutes of action.
-- Boatright had a surprise guest show up for his Senior Night. His grandfather, Tom Boatright, unexpectedly made the trip from Aurora, Ill.
“I didn’t know,” Boatright said. “He surprised me this morning.”
Some shirtless students spelled out B-O-A-T-S-H-O-W on their stomachs.
Pat Lenehan and Guest also were honored.
Too bad their final regular season home game ended on a sour note.
“The biggest thing was trying to get a win and we failed to do that,” Boatright said.
-- Once again, the Huskies fell short in their attempt to extend their winning streak to a season-high four straight games. They finished the regular season with an 11-4 home record.
-- As part of the 25
th
anniversary celebration of Gampel Pavilion’s opening, UConn welcomed back several members of the 1989-90 team. Jim Calhoun and assistant coach Howie Dickenman represented the coaching staff. Chris Smith, John Gwynn, Murray Williams, Oliver Macklin and Dan Cyrulik also were introduced at halftime.
-- The Huskies stayed in the game by sinking 18 of 22 free throws. The Tigers took only two foul shots.
-- Junior Phil Nolan had another solid game, providing some toughness under the basket. He finished with four points, four rebounds and three blocks in a season-high 32 minutes.
“You’re not going to see Phil fill the stat sheet up,” Ollie said. “But he was one guy that I could count on being solid on the offensive and defensive end.”
-- Sophomore Amida Brimah helped prevent the Tigers from running away in the first half, blocking six shots. He finished with seven.
-- It’s a quick turnaround for the Huskies, who visit Temple Saturday afternoon in their regular season finale.
-- Memphis won despite playing without star forward Austin Nichols. Junior Trahson Burrell scored a career-high 22 points and junior Shaq Goodwin hit the game-winning jumper with eight seconds remaining.
Goodwin’s clutch basket bounced on the rim a couple of times before falling through the net.
The Tigers swept the regular season series.
“It was a great win against a great UConn team that’s extremely well-coached by Coach Ollie,” coach Josh Pastner said.
-- Two big thumbs up to the Gampel Pavilion crowd. The enthusiastic fans certainly gave their team the necessary vocal support.
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