Notes & Quotes: UConn plowed through the Big East field

NEW YORK — The accomplishments and accolades are piling up for UConn men’s basketball this season.

So far, they’ve claimed both Big East titles, multiple All-American honorees, the league’s best sixth man, coach, and freshman, and the Big East Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player in Tristen Newton, who’s scored in double digits in 10 straight games with four double-doubles in that span including 13 points and 10 assists in Friday night’s tournament final.

After topping Marquette in a gritty contest, on a day when Purdue and Houston both lost, the Huskies have a chance to end the season with an unexpected cherry on top: the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

It’s not the most meaningful accomplishment in the sport, but it is a marker of greatness and would be a first in program history.

Many things that haven’t happened before, or in a long time, are happening this season. For example, the Huskies haven’t been dual league champs since 2002.

“This is a group that seems to be making history in a place that’s hard to make history,” head coach Dan Hurley said.

Hurley has every right to be confident about where his team stands heading into Selection Sunday, with a 31-3 record and absolute dominance over the country’s second-toughest conference, according to KenPom, where the Huskies are ranked No. 1 overall.

“We’ve been the best team in college basketball,” Hurley said.

College basketball hasn’t seen a repeat national champion since 2007 — but the Huskies are a heavy favorite to do that. They’re six games away, the first four will be close to home. They moved into the top spot in the KenPom efficiency rankings on the strength of the top-ranked offense and the 11th-ranked defense.

On top of all that, their future draft pick at center just had his best game of the season and they may be expanding their rotation thanks to the emergence of a talented freshman off the bench.

Here’s a closer look at Friday night’s win and the Huskies’ performance through the three games of the Big East Tournament:

What Went Well

Cling-Kong. The Big East Tournament championship was a gritty contest played by two great defensive teams who were sluggish in the early going. But Donovan Clingan kept getting after it, powering through some early misses and making 8-of-11 free throws on his way to 22 points and 16 rebounds. He became the first player to put up 20 and 15 in the BET championship game since Patrick Ewing.

Hurley: He would have been a top-20 pick in last year’s draft and accepted playing behind Adama and embraced that, and is just an incredible person… Obviously he’s going to be a lottery pick coming up here in the very near future, but he never makes it about himself.

Clingan: I finally made my free throws.

Unselfish Play. The Huskies set a record for assists in the Big East Tournament with 73. Their assist rate in three games was 83 percent against Xavier, 74 percent against St. John’s, and 81 percent against Marquette, their second, eighth, and fourth-best single-game assist rates on the season.

Hurley: Another 21-assist night on a team filled with NBA prospects speaks to just that we’ve got great people.

Winning Time. Despite their rough starts in all three BET games, the Huskies did not trail in the second halves of their quarterfinal or semifinal matchups and Marquette’s last lead on Friday came with 15 minutes left. The Golden Eagles didn’t score a field goal in the final 2:40 of the game while UConn hit four of its last five shots. This team knows how to take care of business and trust the process. It also has a way of wearing opponents down.

Hurley: These guys have done this with a huge target this year… We’ve gotten everyone’s best game the entire year, and for what this group has done this year, it’s just been a special special season to this point.”

Newton: We knew our offense would click and that’s what happened.

Stewart Stringing it Together. After four scoreless outings, Jaylin Stewart has put two good ones together and is doing it at meaningful moments in the games. His emergence can help give Karaban a rest and provide a spark for the Huskies.

Hurley: Our league is especially tough on freshmen because the league is so physical. But we see on a daily basis what he displayed out there on the court. He built on yesterday’s performance. He came in with a lot of confidence.

What Needs Work

Rough Start, Again. The entire first half and the first few minutes of the second were forgettable. But it was both teams’ third game in three days after a long season. Marquette was without star guard Tyler Kolek but Shaka Smart’s squad kept UConn off balance for a bit. The game was tied at two seven minutes in and had just 50 total points scored at halftime, one night after UConn’s 95-90 win over St. John’s. Still, the Huskies have started four consecutive games slowly.

Clingan: We saw shots weren’t falling, so we just gutted it out and kept doing what we were doing and just really talked about defense.

Newton: Coach did a good job telling us we were doing a great job on defense.

Hurley: I was lying. We looked like sh-it. We looked like two teams that were playing on three straight days.

Misc. Notes

This is the eighth Big East Tournament championship in UConn history (1990, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2011). … UConn got 20 or more points from its bench in all three tournament games. … Clingan set a new career-high for rebounds and has blocked a shot in all 29 appearances. … Newton notched his 10th double-double of the season and was the first player with 10+ assists in the BET final since Syracuse’s Pearl Washington in 1986. … Hurley became the second person to win the Big East Tournament as a player and coach, joining Patrick Ewing.

Up Next

Selection Sunday, 6:30 p.m. on CBS