The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Balanced attack powers Huskies into semis
UConn pulls away after half-time in quarterfinal rout of Xavier
NEW YORK — The first half of the UConn men’s basketball team’s Big East Tournament quarterfinal bout with Xavier was similar to the first time the teams met this season in Cincinnati.
The latter half resembled their second meeting in Hartford.
Leading by a mere point at halftime, the top-seeded Huskies pulled away over the final 20 minutes for a 87-60 win over the Musketeers at Madison Square Garden. UConn (29-3) will face either St. John’s or Seton Hall in a semifinal bout on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at MSG.
The Huskies shot 78.6-percent from the floor in the latter half and finished at 58.3percent for the game, its best ever in its long Big East tourney history.
Tristen Newton may not be Big East Player of the Year, but he made a bunch of big plays for UConn in the second half to help UConn pull away. Newton scored eight of his team-high 13 points on a variety of shots (including an impressive two-handed, putback slam), but the 6-foot-5 guard did more than just score. He hit Samson Johnson for an alley-oop dunk, grabbing a host of rebounds and flirting with a triple-double before finishing with 13 poionts, seven boards and five assists.
UConn needed Newton’s efforts as it found itself down 10-0 inside the game’s first three minutes and with a mere one-point lead at halftime over the ninth-seeded Musketeers (16-17). He wasn’t alone, however, as the Huskies showed their balance in the latter half. Donovan Clingan scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, Johnson, Alex Karaban and Cam Spencer finished with 12 points and Stephon Castle contributed 10.
UConn had eked out an 80-75 win in over Xavier on Jan. 10 on the road. Eighteen days later in Hartford, the Huskies pummeled the Musketeers by 43 points.
Despite leading the league’s regular-season champions in scoring, rebounding and assists this season, Newton was not named Big East Player of the Year by the league’s coaches. That honor went to Providence’s Devin Carter.
Dan Hurley clearly thought that was a snub, and perhaps the low-key Newton felt the same way.
Newton, not necessarily known for his athleticism, rammed home a two-handed putback dunk of a Spencer missed 3-pointer early in the latter half to put UConn up nine. After Xavier had closed to within five, he knocked down a corner trey, then hit Johnson on that alley-oop with 11 minutes to play.
The Huskies’ lead remained in double figures the rest of the way, as the final few minutes turned into garbage time, highlighted by an Apostolos Roumoglou 3-pointer.
Xavier scored the game’s first 10 points as UConn looked sloppy and missed its first four shots. The Huskies countered with a 13-0 run of their own, and the lead see-sawed four more times throughout the half. Spencer’s 3-pointer with 10 seconds left put UConn up 34-33, but Dayvion McKnight countered with a tough, fallaway jumper at the buzzer to make it a one-point game at halftime.
Rim rattlings
Chris Smith, UConn’s all-time leading scorer via Bridgeport, was recognized before the Garden crowd during a timeout as a Big East Legend.