UConn Hoops: Huskies get even with Seton Hall on Senior Night
One thing that has become a hallmark of Dan Hurley’s UConn men’s basketball teams is their knack for getting revenge. In the 2022-23 season, the Huskies lost eight games and had the opportunity to get revenge five times. They capitalized on four such chances.
This season has been a little bit different. Through 28 games Connecticut has been remarkably poor at avenging their losses. The reason? They’ve only accumulated three defeats on the season, and as a result, UConn’s first chance to get revenge came on senior night against Seton Hall.
As Cam Spencer, Hassan Diarra, Tristen Newton and Andrew Hurley were all honored for their respective contributions to the program, the team made sure they closed out Gampel Pavilion with a victory. As has been the case with many of the team’s games this season, things started out close, but UConn pulled away as the contest progressed. Ultimately, this team finally experienced the sweet taste of revenge, winning 91-61.
“Thrilled with the way we played,” coach Dan Hurley said. “Not many things to be disappointed about. A great performance, super efficient on offense, made it much more difficult on them on offense.”
After hitting on just 14% of their 3-point tries in the first half, the Huskies really turned it on. In the second half they connected on 5 of 10 attempts from downtown, but that wasn’t what won it for them. Connecticut threw down a bevy of dunks over the course of the afternoon, totaling 10. They also dominated with a +12 mark on the glass and 22 more paint points. Perhaps the most jarring discrepancy though is the 23-4 advantage UConn had in the assist column.
Newton, one of the seniors honored pregame, was on the hook for 10 of those dimes, doubling the Pirates’ total himself. He found a great balance of when to look for his own shot versus when to help his teammates out. There were a number of times when the point guard fired from way outside and his 4/8 mark from three was evidence of his excellence from that range. This is another performance of many in what is shaping up to be an all-time great season for Newton as a Husky.
Another fantastic effort came from guard Stephon Castle. The freshman has had something of an up and down season, but one of the bigger ups came on Sunday. He finished with numerous dunks, closing with 21 points on 12 shots. Castle hasn’t been amazing on the offensive end these past few weeks, but a performance like this is encouraging. He doesn’t need to score so many points on this efficiency, but if he can add this type of offense to his lockdown defense that’d be huge for the Huskies.
“Steph was tremendous,” Hurley noted. “The first time we played these guys, he was playing from the bench and wasn’t healthy. He made it hard on Kadary [Richmond]. His efficiency from inside was great.”
Castle had a similar assessment of how he played Sunday.
“I think I did a good job of limiting [Richmond] and my teammates did a great job of finding me,” Castle said. “I think this is one of my best games of the season.”
Donovan Clingan also had one of his better outings of the campaign, providing 19 points and 11 boards. He was a big contributor to the barrage of slams that the Huskies poured on, but he showed a lot of intensity on the defensive end too. The center swatted away 5 shots, tying his career-high. He had an admirable game on both ends and has really benefited from losing weight during his second absences.
“Our efficiency with Donovan fully healthy tells the story of the quality we bring,” Hurley added. “The key for Donovan was getting the weight down after the second injury. He came back lighter and you can see with his movement. He’s moving as well as he was last year when everyone fell in love with him.”
Neither team was able to develop much of a lead in the opening minutes as Castle hit the Huskies’ first two shots. Seton Hall jumped out to an 18-14 advantage thanks to seven straight points from Dre Davis, but the Huskies roared back.
Clingan and Diarra got layups, Newton drilled a three and an emphatic Castle slam capped off the 9-0 run. Clingan and Karaban continued to pour it on, as what felt like a reasonably close half ended up as a 15 point lead going into the locker room.
They didn’t slow down there, as Karaban got inside for a layup and drained one from distance on consecutive plays. Newton hit a pair from deep as the Huskies traded two to three shots for Seton Hall’s one. At this point, the game was already in blowout territory and Connecticut took this opportunity to dunk all over the Pirates.
Castle and Clingan took turns throwing down tremendous jams as the seniors checked out in Gampel for the final time in their careers. Andrew Hurley made one of two free throws in the closing seconds as the exclamation point on a successful game and home slate.
This was the first time the Huskies went undefeated at home since 2006, a season that ended in a way that I will not mention.
Connecticut also secured their 11th Big East regular season championship, tying Villanova. The Wildcats recorded six of those in the seven years that UConn was absent from the conference.
“Not getting the regular season championship was a thorn in our side [last year],” Hurley said. “Winning the regular season is the hardest thing to do, maybe next to the final four. It’s a true round robin against the best coaches in the country.”
The next two games, both on the road, have little meaning other than tying up their case to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Even if they did lose out, they would still have a great shot to hold that spot.
“Our mindset is momentum into the Big East Tournament,” Hurley mentioned. “We’re playing for big things in terms of seeding for the NCAA tournament. We have a heck of a resume right now.”
Their first of the pair comes against Marquette, a team they shellacked at home. Expect an angry Golden Eagles squad to give UConn their best shot as they look to get some revenge of their own.
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