Notes & Quotes: UConn downs No. 9 UNC with multiple players on the mend

Stephon Castle returned from his knee injury but three Husky starters — Cam Spencer (toe), Donovan Clingan (foot), and Alex Karaban (finger) — were not at 100 percent going into Tuesday night’s battle with No. 9 UNC.

Still, Dan Hurley’s squad held the lead for 36 minutes and was up by double digits most of the way in an 87-76 triumph at Madison Square Garden.

Spencer dropped 23 points, including 16 in the first half, with seven rebounds to lead No. 5 UConn (8-1) to victory in the nightcap of the Jimmy V Classic.

“The opponent is probably one of the best teams in the country, and it was such a great test coming off the disappointment of the Kansas loss on the road,” Hurley said. “Just to put on that kind of impressive performance — it speaks to the group we have this year.”

Karaban added 18 points with nine rebounds for the Huskies, shaking off a string of sub-par performances. Tristen Newton added 14, along with five rebounds and five assists, and freshman Solomon Ball had a career-high 13 points, going 3-of-6 from three.

It was UConn's first win against a ranked Tar Heels (7-2) in five tries. It was also their first Jimmy V Classic victory (1-4).

R.J. Davis led UNC with 26 points and Harrison Ingram added 20. The Tar Heels scored the game’s first two buckets to take a 4-0 lead but Spencer responded with a three and proceeded to score nine of UConn’s first 13 points to set the tone as the Huskies grabbed the lead and never let it go.

After taking a 44-39 lead into halftime, Karaban and Ball hit threes to push it to 52-41 early in the half. UNC fought to cut it to six, but Karaban and Ball struck again from behind the arch to extend the lead to 75-63 with 6:36 to go. UConn was clinical down the stretch as they led by 17 with 3:05 left.

The Huskies finished 10-for-31 on the perimeter, won the boards 44-33, and their season-high 25 assists came on 34 shots made. They shot 52 percent of the field compared to UNC’s 44 percent.

Here’s a closer look at the game:

What Went Well

1. Big Game Cam: Spencer was doing more than play well, he was also letting UNC know how he felt about it. The fifth-year guard was dominant despite playing with turf toe in each big toe and coming off a 2-of-12 shooting night in Kansas. He was 8-for-14 from the field and demonstrated fiery leadership on the floor. Paired with Newton in the backcourt, the graduate duo has come up huge game after game for the Huskies in the early season.

Cam Spencer: “I definitely came in with a lot of motivation and anger to just help the team in any way that I could. I thought we just raised our intensity level from that Kansas game with a lot of little things. So I’m just really proud of the team, everybody showed up today.”

2. Kara-back: After struggling with his shot and playing with two fingers taped on his right hand, Karaban finally got some shots in. He started the game 0-for-4 from three but went 2-for-5 beyond the arc in the second half and finished 8-of-17 from the field. His heady play in the second half allowed UConn to maintain its lead as the sophomore just missed his first double-double as a Husky. 

Alex Karaban: “I was just trying to make winning plays and really just trying to affect the game rather than just shooting. So I think going in with that approach really helped me in getting my confidence back.”

3. Castle Returns: The freshman guard returned to the lineup after missing six games following a medical procedure to his left knee. Castle didn’t start but entered the game with 12:30 to play in the first half. He scored three points with four rebounds and one assist in 10 minutes. He looked like a player capable of making a difference immediately, even though he was shaking off some rust.

Hurley: “For Steph, that was almost like opening night. You play a couple ball games and then you go on the shelf for three weeks and now it’s basically your opening night freshman game is at MSG versus Carolina.”

4. Balling: Even with Castle back, Ball stayed in the starting lineup and made a couple of huge 3-pointers in the second half. Ball was 5 of 8 from the field and 3-for-6 on treys as he scored a career-high 13 points.

Hurley: “He’s obviously by far the best freshman on the court and he did not look like a freshman. Just huge shots. When we recruited him we knew he was a special guy.”

What Needs Work

1. Getting Healthier: Center Donovan Clingan has been powering through a foot injury with Hurley implying that he hasn’t been 100 percent all season. Clingan battled foul trouble much of the way in this one, sitting in the first half after picking up two. He earned a third early in the second half and sat again for a while, finishing 3 of 7 from the field with eight points and four rebounds. Hurley did mention that the sophomore big man finished strong.

Hurley: “I like how he finished it because things were going sideways for him there. He was wearing it, but I thought he had a stretch there where he really impacted things defensively. … It’s tough because you play Kansas on Friday and everyone is down because we lost and we’re not used to that happening. Then you get put on a shelf for three days and we threw him out there versus Bacot in a game like that. We have to get him healthy now.”

Win Probability & Shot Charts

UConn was a five-point favorite in Vegas and a four-point favorite in KenPom going into the game. The Huskies are now third in the country in overall efficiency.

This is a dominant effort considering the highly-ranked opponent and the semi-neutral crowd, as UNC fans were out in full force.

The teams’ shot charts show that Donovan Clingan and Samson Johnson (20 minutes) delivered defensively in the post, making things tough for UNC with all those misses down there.

The Huskies did a nice job of taking high-percentage twos and threes from good spots, managing an impressive 59.1 percent eFG, the Huskies’ best mark against a high-major opponent on the season. The eFG% stat uses the formula for field-goal percentage but adds 1.5 to the numerator’s value for making a three-pointer.

MISC.

It was the fourth game where UConn made 10 or more three-pointers. … UConn is 2-5 all-time vs. UNC. … UConn has faced consecutive top-10 foes for the first time since the 2010 Maui Invitational. … UConn is 71-60 in program history at Madison Square Garden, while Dan Hurley holds a 9-6 record as UConn head coach at MSG. … The UNC win was UConn’s highest-ranked win in a regular season non-conference game since beating No. 8 Kentucky on Nov. 24, 2010. … After a low-major tune-up on Saturday, the Huskies will visit Gonzaga in Seattle on Dec. 15th.

Up Next

Saturday, vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, noon (FS2)