Stephon Castle scored 21 points, Donovan Clingan and Tristen Newton had double-doubles and No. 3 UConn earned the regular-season Big East title with a 91-61 win over visiting Seton Hall on Sunday afternoon in Storrs, Conn.
UConn (26-3, 16-2) claimed its first outright regular-season championship in the Big East since 1998-99. The Huskies won for the 16th time in 17 games and avenged a 75-60 road loss to Seton Hall in December.
Clingan tallied 19 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks, while Newton had 17 points and 10 assists and Alex Karaban scored 13. Castle went 9-of-12 from the floor as the Huskies rolled to 55.9 percent shooting as a team (33 of 59), with 52 points in the paint and 24 points off 11 Pirates turnovers.
Dre Davis scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half to power Seton Hall (18-11, 11-7), which hung around for most of the first half before succumbing. The Pirates allowed UConn to shoot 18-of-29 (62.1 percent) after halftime en route to their second straight loss.
Kadary Richmond added 15 points and Dylan Addae-Wusu scored 10 for Seton Hall.
The Pirates responded to Samson Johnson’s dunk with seven straight points from Davis, his putback layup giving the Pirates an 18-14 lead with 10:54 left in the first half.
UConn answered with a 9-0 run, punctuated by Castle’s steal and fastbreak dunk. The Huskies moved ahead 29-20 while holding the Pirates without a field goal for close to five minutes.
Newton drew a foul on a 3-point try and made all three foul shots for UConn’s first double-digit lead at 32-22 with 5:45 left. Karaban knocked down a jumper with three seconds remaining as the Huskies scored 12 of the final 16 points of the half for a 44-29 lead at intermission.
Newton knocked down three of his four 3-pointers early in the second half. His first two helped grow UConn’s lead to 58-36 just 4:04 into the half.
Richmond converted a pair of buckets for Seton Hall, but Cam Spencer responded with his only five points of the game on a baseline jumper and a fastbreak 3-pointer to make it 65-43 with 13:05 to play. UConn led by at least 20 for the rest of the day, with Castle and Clingan adding to the Huskies’ celebration with dunks.
–Field Level Media
