Notes & Quotes: Villanova's rough night in Storrs

STORRS — It was a special day in the basketball capital of the world, as the UConn Huskies honored Rip Hamilton and enjoyed a two-hour infomercial as they hosted ESPN’s College GameDay on campus.

On the court, it was back to business for Tristen Newton, Dan Hurley, and the UConn Huskies. They shook off Tuesday night’s loss to put a beating on Villanova, leading by 10 at halftime in a 24-point victory.

“Championship response from us today,” Hurley said.

Cam Spencer, who took personal responsibility for the loss to Creighton, scored 25 points (5-of-8 3FG) to lead the Huskies after a few tough days of practice and film study, he and head coach Dan Hurley shared.

“Cam has had to eat crap for a couple of days here, and he’s been in a foul mood. We’ve all been in a foul mood,” Hurley said.

Spencer’s performance and Newton’s triple-double, where he was creating buckets in the first half and facilitating more in the second, paced UConn offensively, while Donovan Clingan, Steph Castle, and Hassan Diarra provided the defensive excellence. The Huskies also hit 20-of-22 free throws, their second-best performance from the line in league play.

The Wildcats’ top scorers (Eric Dixon - 20 points, TJ Bamba - 13 points) shot a combined 12-for-35 (34%) as Villanova hit just 3-of-24 three-pointers. Guard Brendan Hausen, who came into the game having scored in double-digits five games in a row, didn’t score at all and only took two shots.

Alex Karaban’s shots weren’t falling but he blocked three shots and was active on both ends, finishing with the best plus/minus of the night. He hit a three with time winding down, allowing Newton to notch an assist to complete the triple-double.

UConn may not be ranked No. 1 after this week, but this win re-affirms the Huskies’ place in the top tier of college basketball’s hierarchy. Villanova is a solid unit ranked 34th in KenPom, and Hurley’s squad just bonked them by 24 points.

“These guys are an NCAA Tournament team,” Hurley said, “Obviously they’ve gotta win enough to get there…but they’ve got a chance to make a deep run in the Big East Tournament, too.”

A closer look at the 78-54 triumph:

What Went Well

Perimeter D. Holding Villanova to a 3-of-24 performance behind the arc was a function of great outside pressure from the guards, but also the fact that Clingan altered so many would-be shots inside the arc that the Wildcats were settling at times. Shutting down Hausen was one of their keys to the game and they did it.

Hurley: I think Donovan’s size spooked [Dixon] down there. I thought we did an excellent job on Hausen. That guy’s one of the best shooting options in the country… Diarra kind of chased him around a lot tonight.

Castle: That was our scout, run them off the three-point line, I think we did a good job of that… they’re a good three-point shooting team so that was a lot of our focus.

Spencer Redemption. Hurley said “he took his turn” addressing Cam Spencer’s areas for improvement in film review and practice, but nobody is harder on the transfer guard than himself, the head coach shared.

Spencer: I sucked against Creighton. My defense and my performance pretty much lost us the game, in my opinion, definitely wanted to respond tonight personally. But as a team, we all wanted to respond because that wasn’t the standard we were used to playing.

Hurley: You can’t always wait for the game to come to you. I think sometimes, when you play the better defensive teams, you’re going to have to make shots in tighter windows… you can’t wait for the perfectly clean look…I felt like Cam didn’t pull the trigger… you gotta pull the trigger. You gotta attack, be able to make hard shots. I think he learned a lesson from that.

Newton Does It Again. It was the fourth triple-double of his UConn career, the most ever by a Husky. But beyond that, Newton is a player who simply keeps the Huskies going. He’s been a consistent presence who can score and facilitate in any type of game and also brings the effort defensively to make a difference.

After the game, Newton credited his teammates for boxing out and hitting shots after he passed to them. But his head coach was willing to sing his praises after his 10 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists.

Hurley: He’s got great size and instincts for basketball. It’s a gift, it’s a feel, he understands sports, has great awareness for tracing the basketball and reacting before other players… there’s a lot more buzz with NBA front offices about him as a prospect than maybe you see with some of these bulls*t mock drafts you see.

What Needs Work

Kara-cold. Karaban is one of UConn’s best players and found a way to make an impact even when his shot wasn’t falling. But his shot hasn’t been falling for three games. He hasn’t hit more than two threes against an opponent not named DePaul or Georgetown since January 10 against Xavier. Hurley isn’t concerned, neither are Karaban’s teammates. But it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Hurley: It happens during the year… the good news for Alex is he’s got a clear runway to light it up the rest of the way.

Spencer: Alex is one of the hardest workers you’ll ever meet… we have all the confidence in the world in Alex to keep shooting ‘til they go in.

Misc. Notes

UConn has now won four straight over Villanova. … The Huskies are 15-0 at home, including 7-0 at Gampel, where they’ve won 25 of their last 26. … Hurley won 25 games in a season for the fifth time in his career. … Newton’s 16 rebounds were the most by a Husky since Tyrese Martin on March 5, 2022, against DePaul. … Spencer notched his seventh 20-point game of the season. … UConn is 36-39 all-time against Villanova. … After the game, Hurley mentioned that he’d “love to get KO back, wish him well with the Brooklyn Nets and his opportunity.”

Up Next

The Huskies have their final home game of the season at Gampel Pavilion as they host Seton Hall. A win would clinch at least a share of the league regular-season crown and also an undefeated run through the conference home slate.

Tip-off is at noon on CBS on Sunday, March 3.