No. 1 UConn Dominant in Win vs. Xavier
The Story: Tristen Newton scored 22 points and Donovan Clingan added 18 as No. 1 UConn obliterated Xavier 99-56 at the XL Center yesterday afternoon.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The only players who could have had a chance against UConn were those who won the national title in 2004 and were sitting behind the bench. Nobody else would have touched the Huskies as they put away Xavier away with their most dominant performance of the season.
• UConn (18-2, 9-1 Big East) jumped out to a 10-0 run in the first four minutes and held a 38-7 lead with just under six minutes to go in the first half. That alone let the entire college basketball world know the Huskies are the team to beat.
• The defense, which was noticeably softer when Clingan was out with an injury, dominated in the first half in holding Xavier to 26.7 percent shooting and only four points in the paint. The Huskies led 48-22 at halftime.
• The offense looked like it belonged in the NBA as the Huskies tied a team record by making 17 3-pointers. Clingan hit a 3, as did Apostolos Roumoglou, and Andrew Hurley banked in one as UConn finished 17-for-29.
• According to ESPN, the 43-point win was UConn’s second-biggest victory in a Big East game and its largest margin of victory since it beat Cincinnati 96-51 on March 9, 2008. (We won’t speak about what happened afterward.)
WHAT WE LIKED: Everything. The defense is back with Clingan, who started for the first time since last month, and the offense is beautiful to watch as Dan Hurley has the Huskies as sharp as they can be going into February. UConn scored 1.435 points per possession and had 28 assists on 38 baskets.
• UConn scored 38 points in the paint, with Clingan showing his dominance, and had 51 points from 3-point range and made six free throws. The Huskies scored four points outside the paint and inside the 3-point line — a near perfect execution of efficient basketball and shot selection.
WHAT NEEDS TO IMPROVE: How about the weather? That’s all we got for yesterday. The commute into XL was poor with snow and freezing rain making roads slippery. The weather needs to improve.
2004 REUNION: The dominant performance harkens back to the 2003-04 national championship season, with Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon and others sitting in the first row behind the UConn bench.
WHAT DID DAN HURLEY SAY? “Obviously, one of our best performances. Awesome vibe all weekend. It was great to rise to the moment and put forth our best effort in front of a bunch of champions today.”
UP NEXT: The Huskies host rival Providence on Wednesday at Gampel Pavilion.
— John Silver
Notre Dame Loss Exposes Huskies’ Flaws
The Story: Although the No. 8-ranked UConn women had been riding a wave in recent weeks, their lack of depth, defensive issues and an inability to finish offensively caught up with them Saturday night in a crushing 82-67 loss to No. 15 Notre Dame at Gampel Pavilion.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: UConn (17-4, 9-0 Big East) ran out to a seven-point lead at the end of the first quarter and was up 30-18 a little more than two minutes into the second quarter before the Fighting Irish (15-4, 5-3 ACC), and freshman sensation Hannah Hidalgo, turned on the jets.
• Notre Dame finished the first half on a 26-5 run to take a 44-35 lead into halftime, and though UConn recovered and held a three-point lead with two minutes left in the third quarter, the Irish controlled the game from there.
• Aaliyah Edwards was dominant with 23 points on 10-for-14 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds, but Paige Bueckers shot 5-for-17 and finished with 17 points, two assists and two turnovers, and Ashlynn Shade and KK Arnold had 12 and 11 points, respectively.
• The outcome was especially frustrating given that the Huskies honored those who played for them during four national championship seasons, including Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart, all of whom had their battles with — and memorably beat — Notre Dame in years past.
WHAT HAPPENED? Well, Hidalgo happened. The 5-foot-6 guard entered the game second in the nation in scoring among freshmen with 23.9 points per game, but she broke out for a season-high 34 points against the Huskies on 14-for-24 shooting — 19 in the first half and 15 in the second.
• The Huskies had no answer for Hidalgo, who put her teammates on her shoulders by repeatedly attacking the basket. She scored 22 points in the paint, including 14 off layups, and especially exploited Nika Muhl fouling out just seconds into the fourth quarter.
• Maddy Westbeld scored 23 points, including 15 after halftime and 10 in the third quarter, and Sonia Citron had 15 points, with nine coming during the Irish’s second-quarter run. Oddly, only four players scored for Notre Dame; Natalija Marshall scored the other 10 points.
• Notre Dame shot 55 percent, and 7-for-17 from beyond the arc, but made two-thirds of its shots in the second and fourth quarters. (UConn, meanwhile, shot 43.3 percent, including 4-for-14 from 3-point range.) The Irish also had the 46-26 advantage on points in the paint, 16-15 off turnovers, and 12-7 in second-chance points.
MORE LIKE BIG EASY: UConn built a 13-game winning streak primarily on the backs of Big East opponents, but it was clear Saturday that the conference, yet again, won’t prepare the Huskies adequately for the big stage in March.
• UConn, which hadn’t lost since falling at Texas on Dec. 3, won its first nine Big East games by an average of 32.6 points per game — with each by at least 24 points and two against ranked teams.
• Edwards and Shade played all 40 minutes, Arnold played 39 and Bueckers played 37. It’s not uncommon that Geno Auriemma would ask his stars to play the entire game, but he hasn’t had to do it often this season, and Notre Dame’s speed and size (Marshall is 6-foot-5 and Westbeld is 6-foot-3) were overwhelming.
• Bueckers’ play was moderately concerning. Geno has mentioned several times this season that he wants her to be aggressive and look for her own shot instead of constantly looking for others. She had two points in the second quarter and scored five of the Huskies’ first 11 points in the second half, but was continually challenged by Notre Dame’s physicality and size.
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “When someone gets to the basket that often, there’s nothing we can do about it, because that’s just a total breakdown. I don’t care how good a guard is, and [Hidalgo is] terrific. But for somebody to get to the basket that easily, that means there’s a lot of things going wrong defensively. And to her credit, she kept getting there. And she has a variety of ways to score. And she’s obviously playing with a tremendous amount of confidence. And it did take a lot of guts to come in here and do what she did. She’s damn good, right?”
UP NEXT: The Huskies will head to Philadelphia for a game at Villanova on Wednesday night.
— Zac Boyer
Morning Reads
• It was alumni weekend in Storrs — and apparently in Milwaukee, too, as Jordan Hawkins and Andre Jackson went against each other for the first time as pros when the Bucks beat the Pelicans 141-117 on Saturday.
• The men’s hockey team squandered a two-goal lead to fall 4-3 to No. 7 Quinnipiac in the final of the Connecticut Ice tournament on Saturday.
• The women’s hockey team remained unbeaten in its last seven games with a win and a tie against Vermont over the weekend.
Top photo: Samson Johnson throws down a dunk during the Huskies’ game against Northern Arizona. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
