Yale's Jack Montague hit a 3-point shot with 1.7 seconds remaining to give the Bulldogs a stunning 45-44 upset win over defending national champion UConn on Friday night.
The shot gave the Bulldogs (8-2) their first win over the Huskies (3-3) since 1986. It came from the left corner, almost the same spot where Texas' Jonathan Holmes beat the Huskies in the final seconds on Sunday.
The loss was the third straight for UConn, which did not drop more than two in a row all last year.
Javier Duren had 15 points and Justin Sears added 12 to lead Yale, which had hit just two of 20 shots from 3-point range before Montague's game-winner.
Amida Brimah scored 14 points and freshman guard Sam Cassell Jr. added 12 points for the Huskies, who trailed for all but 3 ½ minutes of the game.
UConn had a four-point lead with 22 seconds left, but could not hold it.
UConn's Daniel Hamilton had tied the game at 40 after catching a long pass from Ryan Boatright and dunking it with 3:52 left and the Huskies went up 42-40 on a goaltending call when Sears stuck his hand through the cylinder to block Boatright's reverse layup.
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Phil Nolan drew a charging call and Cassell hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 22.6 seconds left to give the Huskies the 44-40 advantage.
But the Bulldogs cut the lead back to two on a pair of foul shots from Sears and Boatright missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 11 seconds left. Sears fumbled the ball in the front court, but it went out of bounds off UConn's Phil Nolan setting up Yale's final play with 3.5 seconds left.
Javier Duren, inbounding from the baseline, found Montague in the corner who hit the shot falling away over a leaping Cassell.
The Bulldogs held UConn to just one offensive rebound and had 13 of their own.
Boatright, who had been averaging more than 20 points a game, didn't hit a shot until midway through the second half and finished with six points on 3-for-9 shooting. He was playing on a sprained left ankle, which he injured Sunday trying to contest what turned out to be the game-winning shot against Texas. The senior had not missed a game, and until this week had never missed a UConn practice due to injury.
The Huskies missed eight straight shots during a 12-0 Yale run that gave the Bulldogs an early 17-6 lead.
It was 21-9 before the Huskies began pressing. That led to a 10-3 UConn run to close the half, highlighted by a fast-break dunk and free throw by Hamilton.
Yale held the Huskies to 34.8 percent shooting in the half and went into the locker room up 24-19.
UConn had not lost to an in-state school in 28 years, a span of 68 games coming into Friday night.
UConn had won 13 straight against Yale, since losing to the Bulldogs' 77-75 in overtime win on Dec. 2, 1986 in New Haven. Yale won 12 of the first 14 games between the schools, but UConn had won 28 of the last 30.
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TIP-INS:
UConn: The Huskies' last loss to an in-state opponent came on Dec. 29, 1986 to the University of Hartford, 49-48 at the Hartford Civic Center. The Huskies last loss to Yale came that same year, 77-75 in overtime. That was Jim Calhoun's first season as UConn's coach.
Yale: The Bulldogs came into the game allowing just 61 points a game, and were outrebounding opponents by more than 8 boards a game. They outrebounded the Huskies 36-25.
UP NEXT:
Yale plays its second consecutive game against a team from last season's Final Four when it visits Florida on Sunday.
UConn has more than a week off for final exams before facing Coppin State in Hartford on Dec. 14.
