One night, Connecticut State was up 95 points and looked like an indomitable offensive force. Next, you won’t be able to throw the ball out to sea for the majority of the game and will be relying on your defense.
As Rick Pitino said after Friday night’s loss to the top-seeded Huskies, they can win 100 ways. Consider this Big East Tournament as a good example.
The Huskies continued to play defense until they found territory.
In that case, I couldn’t take a shot at the No. 3 market.
Dan Hurley’s team defeated the Tyler Kolek-less Golden Eagles 73-57 at the Garden on Saturday night, winning late to claim their first Big East Tournament crown since returning to the league.
The title was the Huskies’ first league tournament title since 2011 and their eighth overall, tying Georgetown for the most in Big East history.
With Houston and Purdue eliminated in their respective conference tournaments, defending national champion Connecticut could have a shot at the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Certainly, it looks like they have the potential to win back-to-back U.S. titles for the first time since the 2006-07 Florida Games.
Freshman Jaylin Stewart led the way with a 19-5 run to break up a close game. Marquette was there right before the burst, trailing by just two points.
By the time the game was over, the Huskies held a 16-point lead with 5:54 left.
That didn’t matter on a night when Cam Spencer was held to four points and Tristen Newton was also out.
Donovan Clingan bounced back from a shaky semifinal against St. John’s with a dominant performance of 22 points, 16 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
Stewart added nine points off the bench, his second-highest score of the season.
Remarkably, Marquette shot 48 percent from the field in the second half, outscoring them by 14.
Once UConn got going, it never slowed down. After halftime, he shot 63 percent from the field. Cam Jones led the Golden Eagles with 13 points, followed by David Joplin with 12 points, but the two combined for just 9 of 29 points.
