UCONN MEN’S NOTEBOOK

• Let’s get physical: As has often been the case when UConn and Cincinnati face off, things got pretty physical in Saturday’s AAC tournament semifinals. There was no better evidence of that than Bearcat forward Gary Clark’s hockey-player like grin he displayed after Cincinnati’s 81-71 win in Hartford. Clark lost part of one of his front teeth after being inadvertently head-butted by UConn center Amida Brimah. Brimah didn’t fare well in the collision, either, leaving the game for the locker room for several moments in the opening half before eventually returning. “I remember Coach (Mick Cronin) yelling at me not to swallow it the first time,” recalled Clark, who finished with a gamehigh 25 points thanks largely to 15 of 16 shooting from the foul line. “I just tried to run over there and give (the tooth) to somebody.” In fact, Clark had already lost part of the tooth six days earlier in a bout with — you guessed it — UConn and Brimah. “Last week, I saw (Brimah) throwing a flagrant elbow that wasn’t called,” Cronin explained. “That’s why his tooth was loose. But I did not see whatever happened today.” Ultimately, Cronin had no hard feelings against the Huskies. “I congratulate Kentan Facey, Amida Brimah and Rodney Purvis on a great year,” he said in his opening statement afterwards. “Those guys play extremely hard. That’s what college basketball is all about. They never give in. They had unbelievably bad luck with injuries this season, and I have great respect for Kevin (Ollie) and his program, how hard those guys play.”

• It’s all over now: The careers of Facey, Brimah and Purvis officially came to an end with Saturday’s loss. The Huskies would not accept an invitation to any postseason tournament (CBI, CIT, etc.), according to sources around the program. Facey fouled out with 3 1⁄2 minutes left after scoring seven points in 13 foul-plagued minutes. Purvis was next, fouling out with 31.8 seconds left and leaving the game to the rousing chants of “Rod-ney, Pur-vis” from the XL Center crowd. He was hugged by Ollie, then made his way to the end of the bench, where he sat, head in hands, for several minutes, obviously emotional. Asked what was going through his mind at that time, however, Purvis simply said: “Probably that it was just my last time being in a UConn jersey. That’s about it.” Brimah was lifted for walk-on Christian Foxen with 27 ticks left. The 7-footer finished with four points and eight rebounds.

• Rim rattlings: Jalen Adams led UConn with 20 points and freshman Christian Vital added 18. Vital, a 6-foot-2 guard, led the Huskies with nine rebounds . ... Tom Moore, fired earlier in the week after 10 seasons as Quinnipiac’s head coach, was at the game, along with fellow former UConn assistant (and longtime Central Connecticut State head coach) Howie Dickenman. Also in the crowd were ex-Husky Boo Willingham and Shabazz Napier’s mother, Carmen Velasquez.