Emotions were running high before Memphis and UConn even tipped off on Wednesday night. UConn’s seniors — Ryan Boatright, Pat Lenehan and Dan Guest — were honored in a pregame ceremony featuring a celebratory video, the traditional photo op with families and coaches, and adulation from a fired-up crowd.
When it was time for basketball, UConn had a hard time capitalizing on that emotion. They looked rattled and out of sorts. Boatright particularly, had trouble getting on track. He missed three of his first four shot attempts and committed several uncharacteristic turnovers. His teammates faced similar struggles. Things got so bad that Guest — a walk-on — entered the game midway through the period.
As the Huskies searched for the offensive potency that had led them to their recent three-game winning streak, Memphis capitalized, expanding their lead to as many as 13 with nine minutes remaining.
Then UConn found a different kind of emotion: anger. Trailing by eight with four minutes left in the half, Rodney Purvis drove in for a fast-break layup attempt. Memphis forward Calvin Godfrey committed a hard foul — assessed as a flagrant one — that sent Purvis head-on into the basket stanchion. Teammates restrained an irate Purvis from retaliating, but the tone of the game had been set.
UConn punched back hard (figuratively), and managed to tie the game at the half despite shooting an ugly 28 percent from the floor.
When the second half began, UConn’s nerves were calmed but their shot was still missing. A stretch of great defense — particularly by the front-court tandem of Amida Brimah and Phil Nolan — allowed the Huskies to take the lead. But as Memphis continued to force the ball out of Boatright’s hands, UConn struggled to find an answer.
Eventually — as these things tend to go this season — it came down to the final possession. UConn held a one-point lead following a Memphis block and a Purvis turnover. Tigers big man Shaq Goodwin — the chosen target of a hostile crowd all game — took Phil Nolan to the left side of the paint and bounced in a contested shot from 12 feet with eight seconds remaining.
With one last shot, coach Kevin Ollie called a timeout and drew up a play that seemed to consist of giving Boatright the ball and hoping it ends well. It did not. The senior’s presumptive last shot attempt in Gampel Pavilion was a poor one, a highly-contested, off-balance chuck from the left side of the key that missed badly. Television replays indicated contact on the play, but Boatright admitted after the game that it was the shot selection and not a foul that resulted in such a poor effort.
The cruel ending stung a team and a crowd that should be used to it by now. It was the third game on campus this season that ended in a last-second loss. More tangibly, the victory gives Memphis an advantage in securing the fifth-seed in the upcoming AAC Tournament, and the first-round bye that comes with it. The two teams share an even conference record with one game each remaining. Memphis hold the tiebreaker having swept the Huskies in their two meetings this season.
Notes:
- Phil Nolan had a really great game. As evidenced by his 32 minutes played, he provided energy and effort that was missing from UConn’s bench. He finished with four points, four rebounds and three blocks, but his defense on Goodwin was stellar throughout the game.
- Brimah had six blocks in the first half alone, and added another in the second. Brimah’s flyswatter blocks have become the most exciting plays this season.
- Daniel Hamilton led the team in scoring (16), rebounding (8) and assists (4), and arguably still didn’t play that well. He passed up a number of open looks and generally looked out of sorts at times.
- Purvis really struggled. Following his career-best effort against SMU, he went 0-7 from the floor, missed three of his six free-throw attempts, and couldn’t get going when UConn’s offense desperately needed a spark. In the cases of both Purvis and Hamilton, inconsistency has been a constant this season. It would be less of an issue on a veteran-heavy team, but without any options on the bench, the Huskies are only as good as those two can make them.
- Ollie has to draw up a better play to end the game. Or any play, really. At a certain point (and we’ll choose now), losing every game speaks to a lack of preparation of how to win them.
- What a sad way for Boatright to go out.
Up Next:
UConn travels to Philly to take on the Temple DJ Jazzy Jeffs on Saturday afternoon. Tip is at 2pm and the game can be seen on ESPN2.
