STORRS – It was Stephon Castle’s night in Storrs.
The five-star freshman willed UConn to a 74-65 win over Providence, the team’s ninth in a row, as Donovan Clingan sat the majority of the first half in foul trouble and Alex Karaban made an early trip to the locker room with an apparent ankle injury.
“Steph saved us tonight,” head coach Dan Hurley said. “I’m not sure if there’s a freshman in the country, both ends of the court, on the glass, that’s played as well as he played in this game tonight, in a man’s game.”
As the game turned into a mess of fouls, Castle registered a career-high 20 points (7 of 14 from the field) with five rebounds and an assist before exiting with his fifth. He was credited with just one steal, though his defensive effort on Devin Carter, one of the best players in the Big East, plugged the holes left by the absence of Clingan and Karaban and made way for the Huskies’ comeback.
“I feel like if I could limit the other team’s best player to under their numbers,” Castle said, “then we have a way better chance of winning the game than anything else.”
Carter finished with 20 points, though he shot just 6 of 18 from the field and picked up his scoring with Castle in foul trouble late.
Tristen Newton finished with 16 points, 10 from the free throw line, and 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year and Cam Spencer, despite an off-night shooting, made all eight of his free throws to finish with 15 points and seven rebounds. Karaban re-entered and had 12 and Clingan finished with seven in just 15 minutes.
The score was tied at six when Clingan was called for his second foul 16 minutes in and went to the bench. He never re-entered in the first half.
The Friars, tough on the defensive end, rattled off a 10-2 run to build an eight-point lead over the next five and a half minutes before Newton finished a three-point play to start a comeback. Karaban drove hard for a strong finish at the rim on the Huskies’ next possession to cut the deficit to five but, after an awkward landing, he limped into the locker room with team trainer James Doran.
Without Karaban, UConn turned up its defense and started to claw back. Samson Johnson stole an inbound pass and finished an emphatic dunk in transition and Castle, guarded lightly, carved through the paint and earned two trips to the free throw line. He made 2 of 4 to bring the Huskies within one around the eight-minute mark.
“(Karaban) told me when…
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