NEW YORK – The UConn men’s basketball team loosened up after it went into the MSG locker room at halftime with a slim, one-point lead over Xavier at halftime of Thursday’s Big East Tournament quarterfinal.
Shooting just 40.6% from the field and leading for only three and a half minutes, coach Dan Hurley urged for the intensity level to rise and the top-seeded Huskies obliged, sprinting away for an 87-60 win.
UConn held the Musketeers to just 28.1% shooting from the field in the second half and was able to get into a flow on offense, where the team shot 78.6% after the break – including 15-straight makes to end the game.
“Off stops is their time to play. It’s an opportunity to be aggressive and just look to play in the ball screen game or just go make plays for each other, get lost in offense,” Hurley said of his team, which had 29 assists on 34 made field goals. “When we’re getting the stops like that and we’re getting transition opportunities and with the way we execute offense in the half court… Yeah, we’re tough to guard when we get rolling.”
UConn had six players finish in double-figure scoring, with Donovan Clingan and Tristen Newton each leading the way with 13. Alex Karaban, Cam Spencer and Samson Johnson each scored 12 and Stephon Castle added 10.
UConn’s final field goal percentage (58.3%) and its 29 assists are each new program records in Big East Tournament games.
“I just think we don’t care who scores,” said Castle, the Big East Freshman of the Year who also contributed eight rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks. “We’re just trying to find the best shot for each possession, so if that means moving the ball around 10 times or somebody going to go make a shot for themselves, then that’s what it’s gonna be.”
“I can tell you they should have had 34 (assists),” Hurley said, “because that stretch of three or four minutes when we were – our lobs were a little bit off and we bricked some 3s and we had some sleepy (stuff) going on out there that I didn’t like. It’s a testament to the group. There’s not many teams in the country with this level of talent and NBA players, I mean a starting five of all guys that are NBA players, that are willing for it to be other people’s nights on a given night.”
The Huskies missed their first four shots of the afternoon and dug themselves into a 10-0 hole to start the game, but climbed out with a 13-0 run in response. It was a similar…
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