In the season-opening exhibition game for the UB Purple Knights, the team fell to Division I UConn Huskies by a final of 97-64 at Gampel Pavilion before an announced crowd of 10,167. Prior to the tipoff, the Huskies unveiled their 2004 NCAA Division I National Championship banner, won last season with a rout of Georgia Tech in the NCAA Final.
The Purple Knights came out playing the Huskies tough in the early going, holding two leads of 5-4 and 7-6 before UConn went on a 40-13 run to put the game out of reach. At the half, UB trailed by a 52-26 margin.
In the second half, UB came out strong and cut the lead to 21 at 59-38 with 14:48 left on a dunk by Kevin Jeffreys. That was as close as the Purple Knights would get though as UConn pushed to a 32-point advantage at 86-54 with 5:28 left on the clock.
Leading UB on the scoreboard and on the boards was senior center Ramel Allen, a transfer from Division I Iona. Allen finished the game with 17 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double. Joining Allen in double figures was Jeffreys with 16 points and Mike Rosario with 14. Rosario and Jeffreys each displayed some athleticism throughout the game and were able to get the UB fans to their feet with a number of dunks. The Purple Knights had a number of supporters among the crowd as the University sent up fan busses to Storrs for the contest.
The Purple Knights open their regular season on Monday, November 15th at home when they host the College of St. Rose in a game beginning at 7 p.m. on Bruce Webster Court at the Harvey Hubbell Gym.
University of Bridgeport
Saturday, July 12, 2025