MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
UConn captures first Big East tourney title in 13 years
— For the third time in less than a year, UConn participated in a championship-trophy lifting and net-cutting ceremony on Saturday night.
Yes, life is pretty darn good in Huskyland.
The top-seeded Huskies celebrated the program’s first Big East tournament championship since 2011 at Madison Square Garden.
And they did it by beating the defending tournament champion Marquette, 73-57, the same team that eliminated them in last year’s semifinals.
Ever since that loss, they have been on a mission, which they accomplished by pulling away in the final 10 minutes.
Sophomore center Donovan Clingan had a monster game, finishing with 22 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks, while veteran guard Tristen Newton, the Dave Gavitt Most Outstanding Player, provided 13 points and 10 assists. Clingan was named to the all-tournament team.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Huskies celebrated near midcourt and prepared for the postgame ceremony. They earned the Big East’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. They’re expected to receive a No. 1 seed when the field is announced on Selection Sunday.
Just last April, they cut down the nets at NRG Stadium in Houston after winning the program’s fifth national title. Then, on March 3 after beating Seton Hall, they repeated the championship celebration ritual after clinching the Big East regular season title outright.
With Saturday’s win, UConn (313) tied Georgetown for the most Big East tournament title with eight. The Huskies also won both the regular season outright title and tournament championship for the first time since 1999.
“It’s a special group,” coach Dan Hurley said during the post-game celebration.
The championship game featured two teams ranked in the top 10 – UConn No. 2, Marquette No. 10.
A sold-out crowd of 19,812 showed up anticipating a masterpiece of a championship game.
Instead, they witnessed a messy, ugly contest. More finger painting than Picasso.
There were long stretches of brutally bad offensive basketball.
Eventually, UConn gained enough traction to gradually build a lead and found a way to grind out a championship victory.
A late surge carried the Huskies to victory.
Neither team led by more than four points until UConn freshman Jaylin Stewart buried a 3-pointer from the corner for a 44-39 edge with 10 minutes, 18 seconds left.
The basket gave UConn a lift.
After third-seeded Marquette scored, Newton drained a 3-pointer for a six-point lead.
The Huskies finally found their groove.
Newton’s 3-pointer sparked a 16-3 run that ended with Hassan Diarra sinking a 3-pointer, pushing the advantage to 6044 with 5:53 remaining.
Stewart, who has played a limited but important role this season, was an unlikely hero. He scored all nine of his points during his stint on the floor.
The Huskies took it home from there.
Thanks to Newton’s 3-pointer before half, UConn went into the locker room with a 2624 lead, tying the team’s lowest scoring half of the season.
After winning a shootout in Friday’s semifinals, the Huskies turned into the gang that couldn’t shoot straight in the first half. They shot an icy 30% (9 for 30) from the field.
This is the same team that converted a program best for a Big East tournament game (58.3%) in the quarterfinals and stayed hot in the semifinals, finishing at 57.4%.
It took UConn about six and a half minutes to score on Saturday, as it missed its first eight shots. The Huskies blew several layups.
Marquette caught the same cold, converting 32.3% (10 for 31) before the break.
Clingan was UConn’s only reliable offensive option. He had a double-double by halftime, with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Given the offensive struggles, neither team could pull away.
Playing without All-Big East first team selection Tyler Kolek (oblique injury), Marquette smothered UConn’s perimeter weapons, holding Cam Spencer and Alex Karaban to a combined two points on 1 for 8 from the field in the first half.
The Huskies did enough in the second half to grind out a convincing championship victory.