New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
UConn drops the hammer
Rout of Marquette a big step toward Big East title
HARTFORD — Among the numerous former UConn men’s basketball players and coaches at sold-out XL Center on Saturday afternoon were national champions, All-Americans and former and current NBA standouts.
Only a few (Jim Calhoun, Emeka Okafor and Howie Dickenman) have experienced winning a Big East regular-season championship. The guys out on the floor before them on Saturday may soon be able to say the same.
The Huskies put a near-stranglehold on their quest to win the program’s first conference title in 18 years with a thorough 81-53 beat down of Marquette.
Donovan Clingan led a wellbalanced attack with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Tristen Newton added 15 and eight, Cam Spencer tossed in 14 points, as did Hassan Diarra off the bench.
The top-ranked Huskies improved to 24-2 overall, but more importantly, improved to 14-1 in the Big East. Marquette, No. 4 in the country and No. 2 in the Big East, fell to 19-6 overall and 10-4 in league play.
That means UConn holds a 3 1⁄2-game lead (three in the loss column) with five conference games left on its schedule. Marquette has six games left.One of those games will be on March 6 in Milwaukee. By that time, the Huskies could have the regularseason title all but wrapped up.
Meanwhile, UConn was picked as the No. 2 overall seed in the country by the NCAA Selection Committee prior to the game. Purdue was the No. 1 overall seed selected by the committee, which unveiled the top 16 teams as things stand today.
Marquette was the seventh overall seed. That may have
changed after Saturday's one-sided blowout.
The Huskies got off to a slow start shooting and rebounding, misfiring on 10 of their first 13 3-pointers while allowing six Marquette offensive rebounds within the game's early minutes. But UConn gradually started pulling away late in the opening half, then used a 13-0 run inside the final four minutes to secure a 42-26 halftime lead.
The Huskies were just 4-for-18 from 3 over the first 20 minutes, but held the Golden Eagles to just 2-for-13 from beyond the arc. Newton kicked off the latter half with a putback of his own miss, Clingan added his own putback, and when Diarra banked home a 3-pointer to give UConn a 19-point lead, it was beyond clear that this was the Huskies' day.
Rim rattlings
• Along with Calhoun, Okafor and Dickenman, Andre Jackson Jr., James Bouknight, A.J. Price, Chris Smith, Charles Okwandu and Doug Wiggins were at the game.
• Celtics general manager Brad Stevens was also there. His experience against UConn wasn't as pleasant, falling to the Huskies in the 2011 national title game while head coach at Butler.