How to beat UConn?
There have been similar themes in Huskies’ three losses
OMAHA, Neb. — Tristen Newton was nearly unstoppable but, ultimately, not invincible.
With no one else on the UConn men’s basketball team doing much offensively, Newton kicked things into a different gear on Tuesday night. The 6foot-5 guard hit one tough shot after another and helped the Huskies close a 23-point second-half deficit down to 10 with less than five minutes left before ultimately falling to Creighton.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because Newton had a similar performance in one of the Huskies’ other three losses this season. On Dec. 1 at Kansas, Newton scored more than half (16) of UConn’s 31 secondhalf points and even gave his team a brief, late lead after trailing by a dozen late in the first half. He finished with a UConn career-high 31 points in that 69-65 loss at Phog Allen Fieldhouse.
Tuesday night’s 85-66 loss at CHI Health Center wasn’t nearly as close. But it was Newton who gave the Huskies brief hope, scoring 17 of UConn’s 37 second-half points and finishing with 27, his most in a Big East game.
“He was basically the only guy that played well,” Dan Hurley said on Tuesday night.
Bill Self had similar thoughts after that Dec. 1 game.
“Newton was the best player in the game,” the Kansas coach said.
Yes, they both came in losses, but they were hardly empty points by Newton. He has proven he can almost single handedly lead the Huskies when everyone else is struggling.
“Coach was telling me they need me to be a leader,” Newton said Tuesday night, “so I tried my best to help us out.”
On a team with five starters averaging in double figures and nine players overall who have hit double figures at least once this season, it’s rare that UConn has a game where every player but one struggles offensively. In fact, it’s essentially happened just three times — in all three losses.
Against Kansas and Creighton, Newton had the lone hot hand. In a Dec. 20 loss at Seton Hall, it was Donovan Clingan.
The 7-foot-2 sophomore had 14 points in just 14 minutes of action that night in Newark, N.J., and scored UConn’s first six points of the second half. Then, just under 3 1⁄2 minutes into that half, he tumbled to the floor with an ankle injury and never returned to action.
UConn trailed by four points at the time of Clingan’s injury. It wound up losing by 15.
In fact, a compromised Clingan is also a common theme in two of the Huskies’ losses. On Tuesday night, it wasn’t injury but foul trouble that limited the big center. Clingan picked up his second foul just over five minutes into the contest on a moving screen that sent Creighton’s Steven Ashworth to
the floor.
“It was a flop,” Hurley said afterwards.
Either way, Clingan went to the bench with UConn up 11-5. When he returned with 6:46 left in the half, the Huskies trailed 29-23. Yes, the Bluejays did most of their damage from beyond the arc, hitting six straight 3pointers while Clingan was out and 14 of 28 for the game. But having the dominant rim-protector on the bench had to help Creighton’s psyche.
Clingan wound up playing a fairly normal 26 minutes on Tuesday. But his defensive tenacity was compromised a bit by the early foul trouble, and Creighton took advantage.
And so, after a recordtying 14 straight Big East wins, eight of them by double digits, and its first unanimous No. 1 in program history, the Huskies proved one thing on Tuesday night.
“We’re not invincible,” Newton announced. “We never felt we were invincible.”
Maybe not, but UConn sure looked like it for a while. The Huskies hadn’t lost in 2024 and, in fact, hadn’t lost in exactly two months. Now, after that historic, unanimous No. 1 ranking on Monday, they’ll likely find themselves No. 2 this upcoming Monday to Houston, Purdue, perhaps Arizona.
And there is a clear blueprint now to beat UConn. Get Clingan in foul trouble, it changes everything.
Turn UConn into a one-man show offensively. Easier said than done. There aren’t going to be too many games where Alex Karaban, Cam Spencer and Stephon Castle combine to shoot 8for-24 overall and 1-for-8 from 3. Remember, Castle didn’t even play in the loss to Kansas, and Spencer was hobbled by a foot injury early in the game and stumbled to 2-for-12 shooting.
Oh, and try to get the Huskies on your home court. UConn is 14-0 at home this season and hellbent on going unbeaten at home for the first time since 2005-06. Two of the Huskies’ four remaining regular-season games are at home — Saturday against Villanova, March 3 against Seton Hall, both at Gampel. The two remaining road games should be difficult, at No. 7 Marquette and at Providence on Senior Day, with the Friars possibly desperate for a resume-building win.
But after that, it’s all neutral floors for UConn, who are 4-0 in such venues this season and 14-1 the past two. Well, not exactly neutral floors. The Big East Tournament, of course, is at Madison Square Garden — a.k.a., Storrs South. And if the Huskies get the No. 1 seed in the East Region, there’s a good chance they could play their first two rounds at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, then their regional semifinals and finals at TD Garden in Boston.
UConn should feel right at home at all of those venues.