Final Score: UConn Ends Regular Season With 67-47 Loss to Cincinnati

A disappointing season ended in disappointing fashion for UConn Men’s Basketball as the Huskies failed to keep up with No. 18 Cincinnati at Gampel Pavilion, 67-47.

Before the season, this was supposed to be a showdown of the class of the conference. Both teams held a preseason ranking, but that would quickly change as UConn’s season got off to a disastrous start.

The game started as a traditional UConn-Cincinnati low-scoring slugfest before the Bearcats began to pull away. They had a double-digit lead for most of the first half and ended it with a 10-point advantage. The second half was more of the same. Gary Clark (17 points, 14 rebounds) and Jacob Evans (12 points, 6 rebounds) led the way for Mick Cronin’s squad.

The Huskies honored Rodney Purvis, Amida Brimah, and Kentan Facey for their Senior Day festivities. The trio would turn out to be UConn’s leading scorers in a fitting end for the people responsible for the Huskies’ midseason resurgence despite major adversity.

Purvis led the way with 15 points, 13 in the first half. Brimah finished with 11 points and six rebounds while his frontcourt classmate Kentan Facey struggled initially before getting all eight of his points in the second half. He also added 10 rebounds.

Unfortunately, this is not an unexpected result as Cincinnati actually has a really good team and the Huskies were without Vance Jackson in addition to the slew of early-season injuries which decimated the roster. UConn went 3-of-18 from behind the arc and generously allowed 17 offensive rebounds to the visitors while Cincinnati dominated overall rebounding 44-33.

The Huskies (14-16, 9-9 AAC) are now most likely looking at a 6 or 7-seed in the AAC Tournament depending on how the rest of the league’s results shape out. They will be playing on Thursday at 6 or 8 p.m. on ESPNews.