STORRS, Conn. _ There was no magic to be drawn from senior day, no extra, game-changing energy to be pulled in from a nearly packed Gampel Pavilion.
No, this was just UConn men's basketball circa 2017, not healthy enough, or up for the challenge of playing quality, NCAA Tournament-bound teams. No. 18 Cincinnati dominated its offensive boards to build a large early lead, and the Huskies couldn't catch up, or even threaten, losing 67-47 before 9,331 Sunday in the final game of the regular season.
"The first half, they took it to us on the offensive boards," coach Kevin Ollie said. "We've just got to have the initiative to go and hit. We've been saying that."
UConn (14-16, 9-9 AAC) finished the season, the first losing regular season for the program since 1986-87, with four consecutive losses, erasing the positive vibes of a midseason surge, and now will enter the conference tournament in Hartford, Conn., this week as an also-ran.
The Huskies were awaiting the results of later games Sunday to learn if they would be seeded fifth, sixth or seventh for the American Athletic Conference Tournament. The fifth seed would mean a first-round bye.
In any event, they would probably have to go through both Cincinnati and regular-season champ Southern Methodist. And in this regular-season finale, as in the previous three games against those teams, there were no would've-could've-should'ves to contemplate. The Huskies were overmatched.
"They're a tough team," said Rodney Purvis, who scored 15 points in his last game at Gampel, "but we can play with those guys if we come out tough and don't fall behind early."
Amida Brimah had 11 points and six rebounds, and Kentan Facey had eight points and 10 rebounds. The three seniors left the floor to polite applause with 2:19 to go, UConn down 20.
"The conference tournament is in Hartford, so that's a huge boost," Purvis said. "To be honest, everyone's record is the same. Everyone's zero and zero. The best team can lose on the first day, and sometimes the worst teams keep winnings. I just feel like it's a restart button. Yes, this loss hurt, but we're going to learn from it."
The Huskies, shooting 31.3 percent, 3-for-18 on 3-point attempts, got little going offensively, their second-lowest scoring output of the season. For the 18th-ranked Bearcats (27-4, 16-2), Gary Clark had 17 points and 14 rebounds. Jacob Evans (12) and Jarrod Cumberland (15) chipped in with scoring. But Cincinnati's 11 offensive rebounds in the first half, 17 for the game, and 44-to-33 overall edge on the boards was the main story. The Bearcats took 66 shots from the floor, to UConn's 48.
"Well, we missed enough shots, we should get some of the rebounds," Bearcats coach Mick Cronin said. "It was a brick-laying convention there early. ... UConn, they just have too many freshmen out there. They just don't have enough pieces. Obviously, when they have been at full strength here for the last 20 years, you could come in here and you couldn't get a shot off."
The Huskies were short-handed again, with Vance Jackson (concussion) in street clothes. Jalen Adams, 2-for-7 with four points, five rebounds, four turnovers, again played with a sprained left ankle and gave what he could in 29 minutes. "He's limping all around, he's hurting," Ollie said. "It's hard to push off. He gave it a go."
With both teams shooting poorly, Cincinnati's second chances made the difference in building a 21-7 lead with 8:08 to go in the first half. Ollie put sophomore Steven Enoch in with Brimah and Facey, and the big lineup closed the rebounding gap. The Huskies shaved the lead to six on Purvis' three-pointer with 4:43 to go, and as close as five a minute later.
But Cincinati, going with a guard-heavy lineup, stretched the lead back to double digits, 33-23, at the end of the half.
"We've just got to play tougher," Brimah said. "The way we started. We've all got to be tougher, box out better. They only shot 36 percent, but there were too many second chances."
The Huskies never mounted a threat in the second half.
"We didn't score the ball particularly well," Facey said, "but that's going to come if we play defense and box out."
The Huskies, who lost nine of their first 14 games, won nine of the next 12, including dramatic come-from-behind wins against Memphis and Temple in mid-February. They were ahead of Houston by 12 points late in the first half on Feb. 22, poised to take over third place in the conference. But things unraveled again, quickly. The Huskies lost that game, then Adams' ankle injury was added to the long list, including the earlier, season-ending injuries to Alterique Gilbert, Terry Larrier and Mamadou Diarra.
"It's tough to see them lose any day," Ollie said. "I hate for them to lose on Senior Day, but our season's not over with. ... It's been difficult for everybody in this whole state, but three weeks ago, we were playing for third place in our league. I just really thank these guys for their perseverance, continuing to play, continuing to believe. We've had a lot of set-backs. ... But you go out and give it your best no matter what you have."
