The Yale men’s basketball team is trying to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1962 and is in first place in the Ivy League with two games left for the Bulldogs to play.

But there is a troubling controversy surrounding the squad.

The 20-6 Bulldogs have been without senior captain Jack Montague since early last month, and he recently withdrew from the school for reasons that have not been made public, according to the Yale Daily News.

Some around the New Haven campus believe the reason was sexual misconduct.

The athletic department has since said that Montague, who averaged 9.7 points and three assists per game before leaving the team, will not return this season. And Friday, the team warmed up on the court before its game against Harvard wearing T-shirts with Montague’s nickname “Gucci,” as well as the word “Yale” inverted.

The following Monday, posters appeared around the school featuring pictures of the team wearing the shirts along with the phrase “Stop supporting a rapist.”

“No one in the team is aware of what happened [to Montague], and the shirts are not a comment on what the administration has done or anything happening with Jack’s situation,” senior forward Justin Sears told the paper on Sunday. “It was just to say he is part of the team and we miss him, and because he’s been deleted off the roster and is not mentioned anymore.’’

But he wasn’t surprised by the response on campus.

“We knew, when we wore those shirts, that there was going to be a reaction and this is the reaction,” Sears said. “We just want to stick together as a team and remain focused.”

While most of the posters were quickly removed Monday, more were put up on Wednesday.

Head coach James Jones and assistant director of sports publicity Tim Bennett declined to comment to the paper about the shirts and posters on Monday.

The paper reported that a representative of law firm Jacobs & Dow, LLC, had confirmed that Montague is a client.

Montague, a 6-1 guard from Brentwood, Tenn., last appeared in a game on Feb. 6, and withdrew from the school four days later.