We’re counting down the top 10 moments in each Ivy school’s history as part of our Ivy League at 60 retrospective. Yale is next by request of Ivy Player of the Year Justin Sears, who had 12 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks in our next all-time moment…
On Nov. 30, 2014, Yale did something it hadn’t done before: Defeat a defending national champion. And it did so in the most dramatic way possible.
With 1.7 seconds remaining, Jack Montague drilled a three-pointer that clinched the Elis a win over defending champ UConn at Gampel Pavilion, only the second for an Ivy over a defending national champion since Princeton trumped UCLA in 1996. It was one of only five three-pointers drained in 32 tries combined from both teams on the night, but it was all Yale needed to beat the Huskies for the first time in 28 years. Yale’s win snapped UConn’s 68-game win streak over in-state rivals as the Elis held Connecticut to 22 points below the home team’s season average.
Most importantly, as IHO noted at the time, the win cemented Yale’s status as a legitimate contender for the Ivy crown en route to a share of the Ivy crown.