Sports: Houston hands UConn men first loss of the season at Gampel Pavilion
Inconsistent Huskies miss out on a critical chance to inch closer to NCAA tourney bid
Storrs — Kevin Ollie's sharp postgame remarks poked as many holes in UConn as Houston did on Sunday.
He questioned the Huskies' leadership, focus, effort, heart and toughness.
Defensive lapses ranked at the top of the UConn coach's list.
The Huskies struggled to stop Houston, the American Athletic Conference's top scoring team, all over the court.
“I don't know where our defense went,” Ollie said. “We couldn't keep nobody in front of us and we couldn't get back in transition and we didn't play with any heart.”
They watched the Cougars sink their last five field goal attempts in a bitter 75-68 defeat at Gampel Pavilion. They allowed a season-high 51.9 percent from the field, including a sizzling 60 percent (15-for-25) in the second half. They also gave up 18 fast break points in losing at Gampel for the first time this season.
As of Feb. 25, UConn ranked third in the nation in field goal percentage defense at 37.4 percentage.
“We had a bad defensive day today,” sophomore Daniel Hamilton said. “A horrible defensive day. That's something that we emphasize and that's something that we're good at.”
The Huskies (20-9, 10-6) continued
their troubling trend of inconsistent play. Because of that, they missed out a big opportunity to put their NCAA tournament hopes on firmer ground.
Instead, they're in bubble territory with two regular-season games remaining — at Southern Methodist on Thursday and home against Central Florida on Sunday. They'll likely need to make a run in the AAC tournament.
“It would have been a great victory for us and keep the momentum going down to SMU (Thursday),” Ollie said. “You just let it slip through your fingers, and that's very, very hard to swallow ... We did not play the right way at all. It's very disappointing.”
UConn had no answer for redshirt junior Damyean Dotson, who finished with a game-high 22 points and 14 rebounds. Dotson buried perhaps the game's biggest basket, sinking a contested 3-pointer with 1:09 left that stretched the Houston lead to 72-66.
Shonn Miller's tip-in accounted for UConn's final basket, slicing the deficit to 72-68. But, from there, the Huskies misfired on two 3-pointers and committed two turnovers while the Cougars hit three free throws to close out the game.
“He dominated the whole game,” Ollie said of Dotson. “It just comes down to toughness and I'm going to stop my man.... and the lack of effort that we showed.”
A poor stretch near the end of the first half and into the first few minutes of the second half contributed to UConn's demise.
Leading by nine at the 4:21 mark, UConn self-destructed on both ends. The Huskies committed four turnovers and the Cougars cashed in with an 8-0 run. The lead stood at just one (33-32) at the break.
Then Houston went on a 9-0 run to take a 44-37 lead in the first three minutes of the second half. The Cougars attacked the basket before the defense set up.
“Connecticut's defense is really good on one side of the floor,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “They want you to play on the strong side. ... What we did today was get the ball to the other side and then back to the third side. ... Our discipline offensively was good. Our poise in transition was good and the ball moved.”
UConn recovered behind the play of Hamilton, who had 13 of his teambest 20 points after intermission.
The game tightened up, but the defense buckled down the stretch.
Ronnie Johnson's free throws pushed Houston ahead for good, 6564, with 3:16 left. The Cougars (21-8, 11-6) won despite their leading scorer Rob Gray, Jr., scoring just two points. He's been dealing with a sprained ankle.
On the plus side, Hamilton, who's endured some prolonged shooting funks this season, reached 20 points for only the second time this season on 8-for-14 shooting. But he had little help, as only junior Amida Brimah (10 points, seven rebounds) broke into double figures. The Huskies shot 44.4 percent overall.
When asked if Hamilton's offensive output was an encouraging sign, Ollie decisively responded, “No.”
Ollie added: “I don't care if he scores 40 points. You can't give up 60 percent shooting in the second half.” g.keefe@theday.com Twitter: @GavinKeefe