Spencer’s March Madness dream comes true
NEW YORK — In the far corner of the UConn men’s basketball locker room Friday evening, Cam Spencer sat on a folding chair and cut athletic tape from his ankles. Think of how many hundreds of times he’s done this over the past five years following practices, shootarounds and games.
Spencer had just played his 127th college game. It was his NCAA Tournament debut. He scored 15 points in the
Huskies’ 91-52 victory over Stetson at the Barclays Center, the first step of a journey familiar to a program and entirely new to a player.
“Unbelievable,” Spencer said. “I’ve dreamed of playing in March Madness my whole life and to get that first game was pretty special. I’m just happy to get the win, honestly, and that’s all I’m focused on.”
Spencer at this moment, literally and essentially, was alone. The rest of the room was lined with teammates at locker stalls who had either, A) been through this tournament and won it so convincingly a year ago or, B) were still in high school.
“And then Cam,” coach Dan Hurley said.
Hurley was standing outside the locker room minutes later. He gritted his teeth. He pumped his fist. He had pulled Spencer out of the transfer portal as a fifth-year graduate, a transaction that gave UConn a scorer and a more advanced heartbeat, and gave Spencer an elusive opportunity.
“You recruit these guys and lay out a vision, what you hope it will look like,” Hurley said. “We had a lot of confidence in what would happen for us this year, and he was the missing ingredient. We all want this for other people, and that’s what makes it special.”
Hurley mentioned Tristen Newton, Donovan Clingan and Alex Karaban, all key players during last season’s national championship run. Others, freshmen like Steph Castle and Jay
block down at the other end. The two were the most dominant on the floor. Together, they combined for 12 points in UConn’s 17-0 run midway through the first quarter.
The Huskies’ defense was quick, pestering and cohesive. Players called out switches and stalked the area under the hoop, ready for rebounds. Jackson State went nearly eight minutes in the opening quarter without a field goal and had a five-minute stretch also without one in the second.
Jackson State simply couldn’t find a way to stop the bleeding.
The Tigers entered the game second in the nation in field goal percent defense, limiting opponents to a 33.6 clip from the floor. At halftime, UConn was shooting 52.8 percent and had limited Jackson State to 30%.
Even when the Tigers swarmed Bueckers and Edwards, the Huskies’ other options were just as capable.
Ashlynn Shade scored 10 points in the first four minutes of the third quarter, including going 2 of 3 from deep. She was quick to find rebounds and didn’t come off the court once.
Seven of UConn’s players played in the first 35 minutes as UConn led by as much as 28 over the Tigers.