NEW YORK – The UConn men didn’t take Stetson lightly … And they didn’t take the Hatters down lightly, either.
Friday’s 91-52 win in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center marked UConn’s widest margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament game since beating 16-seed Chattanooga, 103-47, in the first round of its 2009 Final Four run.
The No. 1 overall seed Huskies scored the game’s first eight points and ran out to a 23-4 lead through the first 10 minutes, overpowering the 16-seed Hatters in every facet. The lead grew to as many as 36 with just over three minutes left in the first half after All-American point guard Newton lobbed his fourth alley-oop of the game, this time to Samson Johnson for the slam.
“That’s exactly how you want to start a game like this,” coach Dan Hurley said. “You’re in March Madness, you know the history of these No. 1s or high seeds and, just, we took away all hope in that game from them early on with the defense, with the offense, with the relentlessness. That was a pretty good first performance.”
UConn went into halftime ahead 52-19, which marked the program’s largest halftime lead (33 points) in its NCAA Tournament history.
Newton finished with 13 points and eight assists as Hurley emptied the bench with four minutes left, all starters scoring in double figures. Donovan Clingan dominated inside with 19 points (9-for-11 from the field) and eight rebounds, Cam Spencer scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half and Alex Karaban finished with 12, nine in the first half. Stephon Castle added 14 with five rebounds and four assists.
“We’re really just trying to stay hungry,” Clingan said. “No matter how many games we’ve won, it’s March. We’re 1-0 now, you don’t think about the regular season, you don’t think about anything else, you just think about what’s in front of you.”
UConn, beginning its bid for back-to-back national titles, shot 22-for-32 from the field and 7-for-14 from 3-point range in the opening period. Stetson, making its first tournament appearance, was just 8-for-26 in the first half and 1-for-10 from beyond the arc.
The Hatters made a run early in the second half, 14-3 over 3:35, and cut their deficit to 25, but UConn returned to form defensively and held them without a made field goal for more than four minutes.
It all started in preparation, which the Huskies do extensively and the same way for every opponent, no matter its resumé. Hurley, who admitted he felt nerves with the amount of expectations on the Huskies, not wanting to blow the success of the last two years by becoming the latest No. 1 seed to go down, was worried about the Hatters’ shooting ability.
They ranked No. 28 in 3-point percentage entering the tournament and No. 34 in 3-pointers per game, but shot just 3-for-19 from deep (and 31% from the field) on Friday. UConn finished 53% from the field and 9-for-24 from beyond the arc.
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“If you don’t show up and do your job and execute at a high level, then anyone can be beaten,” Spencer said. “You’ve got to bring your A-game against every team and respect everybody the same way like you’re trying to win a championship… We’ve had a week in between games so we were just kind of ready to get after it. Watching all the other games, we were just fired up to get on the court.”
“Winning a game in March Madness is hard, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing – winning in general is hard,” Karaban said.
UConn is 20-4 in NCAA first round games since seeding began in 1979.
The Huskies will meet 9-seed Northwestern in the Round of 32 on Sunday at a time still to be announced. The Wildcats advanced after beating Florida Atlantic, a Final Four team last season, 77-65 in overtime behind a combined 49 points from guards Ryan Langborg and Boo Buie.
