The top-ranked Washington University men’s basketball team had its school-best 23-game winning streak fall by the wayside Sunday in Rochester when the Yellowjackets handed the Bears their first loss of the season, an 83-82 heartbreaker in overtime.
The setback was the Bears’ (23-1, 12-1 UAA) first loss in 44 regular season games and 26 UAA conference games.
Just before the buzzer at the end of regulation, senior forward Chris Jeffries converted a slam dunk to tie the score at 75-75. However, the Yellowjackets (21-3, 11-2 UAA) outscored the Bears 8-7 in the extra frame, as senior guard Matt Tabash’s last-second trey was blocked by Rochester guard Jeff Joss as time expired.
Lost amidst all the hoopla surrounding the squad’s excellent performance this season were the Bears’ rebounding woes. For the first time, WU’s most alarming weakness resulted in defeat, as Rochester racked up a glaring 22-13 offensive rebounding advantage and earned a myriad of scoring opportunities.
“Rebounding has been our main weakness all season,” head coach Mark Edwards said. “We try to tap the ball outside and get some hustle rebounds, but there is no substitute for getting good position and boxing out, which we weren’t able to do for the most part.”
Yellowjackets center Seth Hauben continued his domination of the Bears’ interior defense, scoring 25 points and pulling down a career-high 20 rebounds, ten on the offensive glass. Earlier this season, in WU’s 74-71 overtime victory over Rochester, Hauben dropped in 30 points and grabbed 19 boards.
“Seth Hauben isn’t the biggest player on the floor, but he plays like it,” Edwards said of the 6 foot 6 pivot man. “He gave his team a lot of energy and a lot of extra chances, and it can be very frustrating to have to play defense again after you denied them the first time around.”
Even more frustrating was the fact that the Bears’ vaunted outside shooters never got into a rhythm. WU shot 46 percent for the game, but just 23 percent from three-point territory.
“Rochester played good defense on us all game, and they pretty much took away our outside game,” Edwards said. “Most of the time we’ll make more of those shots, but we were able to hang in there because we were shooting so well in the paint and from medium-range.”
Jeffries once again led WU in scoring with 26 points, and he added nine rebounds, but point guard Tabash, the Bears’ acknowledged offensive catalyst, was held to 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting. He made only three of his 12 three-point shots.
“We don’t have the foot speed to handle him one-on-one,” Yellowjackets head coach Mike Neer said in an interview with WYSL radio. “We thought if we went zone we could cut down the number of touches he had.”
The weekend did have its upside, however, as WU clinched a share of the UAA title with a 98-63 rout of Carnegie Mellon University (11-13, 5-8 UAA) on Friday. The Bears started the contest on a 12-3 run and never looked back, leading by as many as 41 points in the second half. Jeffries led all scorers with 22 points, and senior guard Joel Parrott added 19 points.
Not only did the Bears shoot a stellar 51 percent from the field, but WU put the defensive clamps on Carnegie Mellon, forcing 18 turnovers and allowing the Tartans just 36 percent shooting on the day.
Although their reign atop the rankings may be over (Randolph-Macon College will likely top WU), the Bears have shown off their depth and versatility throughout the season. Performances like the one against Carnegie Mellon illustrate how balanced the Bears are when they are on top of their game.
“We realize our position as a team,” Edwards said. “When we play our game, we’re tough to beat because we pose multiple threats on offense and play tight defense. That hasn’t changed, and our confidence hasn’t changed.”
WU will attempt to hold off the University of Chicago (15-9, 11-2 UAA) in the regular season finale on Saturday at the Field House. A win would give the Bears an outright UAA championship. Chicago is fighting for a share of the title, which they would attain with a victory.
“The championship is important to us, and we don’t want to have to share it,” Edwards said. “We’d certainly like to end the season with a win, and hopefully the home crowd can make some noise and support the players.”