New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Helping hands
Newton credits teammates for latest triple-double
STORRS — For multiple reasons, it was perhaps the most important pass in the waning seconds of a 24-point blowout victory in UConn men’s basketball history.
With 25 seconds left and the Huskies leading Villanova by 19 on Saturday night, Tristen Newton found Alex Karaban out on the perimeter. Way out on the perimeter, as in about six feet beyond the 3-point arc.
Karaban unleashed a 3pointer, his eighth and final shot attempt of the night. It swished through the net.
Unsportsmanlike conduct?
Running up the score? No, not really.
“Normally in that situation, we would have just taken the shot clock violation,” coach Dan Hurley reported. “But, they were pressing and running around and trapping, and being real aggressive at that point, defensively. We just ran a simple ball screen. Because they were pressuring us, I didn’t want to have a live-ball turnover. I yelled as loud as I could, ‘Pass it!’ But he knew the situation he was in.”
Indeed, Newton knew he was one assist shy of a tripledouble. His second of the season and fourth of his two-year UConn career. No other player in the program’s long history, not even Rip Hamilton, whose number was retired at halftime on Saturday night, has recorded more than two.
“It’s pretty cool,” Newton said after the game. “The most important thing is getting a win. Before the game, our (graduate assistant) told me I’ve got to get a triple-double before I leave I guess (Saturday) was the night.”
Newton finished with 10 points on just 3-for-10 shooting, along with 10 assists. The most impressive part of his trifecta, by far: a career-high 16 rebounds.
Not bad for a 6-foot-5 point guard.
“He’s got great size and great instincts for basketball,” Hurley said. “It’s a gift, a feel. He understands sports. It’s a great awareness for tracing the basketball and reacting before other players. There’s a lot more buzz with NBA front offices than maybe you see with some of these (nonsense) mock drafts that come out.”
In typical fashion, Newton was more interested in crediting his teammates.
“Gotta thank Steph (Castle) and Donovan (Clingan),” he said. “Their big (Eric Dixon) was on the perimeter a lot, so the rebounds were easy. The rebounds pretty much fell to me, and them making shots, that’s what they do. Credit to them for that.”
But the biggest shot may have been Karaban’s. The junior forward was in a real funk: 4-for-23 overall and 2-for-15 from 3 over the prior three games before collecting that meaningful meaningless pass from Newton. The long 3pointer was the only shot he hit, accounting for Karaban’s only three points, on the night.
“It was fitting that Alex made it,” Hurley noted, “because he missed everything he looked at.”
The coach hopes it was a gateway to a new hot streak.
“The good news for Alex, now, is he’s got a clear runway to light it up the
rest of the way,” Hurley added. “He’s got his bad stuff out of the way, which sometimes is good for a shooter. It’s like, ‘Now I know the next month, I’m going to hit everything.’ ”
“Alex is one of the hardest workers you’ll ever meet,” teammate Cam Spencer added. “When shots aren’t going in, it’s definitely frustrating. But, we have all the confidence in the world in Alex. Keep shooting ‘til they go in, because he’s an unbelievable shooter, and we need him to win games. They’ll fall.”
Ah yes, Spencer. The hero of the night on Saturday with five 3-pointers and 25 points, he’s now tied with Newton as the team’s leading scorer at 15.2 points per game.
Which brings up an interesting conundrum. In two weeks, the Big East will announce its all-conference teams. A few days after that, the league will announce its Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, etc.
The Huskies have three players (Newton, Spencer
and Karaban) deserving of first team all-Big East honors and perhaps another (Clingan) worthy of a second-team or at least honorable mention nod. Odds are that not all four will be honored, and there’s no way that three players are making first team.
The more interesting choice will be Player of the Year. Is it Newton? Is it Spencer? Is it Devin Carter, who has led Providence to NCAA Tournament contention after the Friars lost Bryce Hopkins for the season? And what about Tyler Kolek, the reigning Player of the Year who recently doled out 18 assists in a game? Does one of Creighton’s power trio get consideration?
“I think postseason awards, it’s going to be tough to differentiate for our guys, who gets what,” Hurley noted. “Because they’ve all been so damn good.”
Spencer and Newton, in particular, on Saturday night. Karaban, the coach hopes, from this point on.