It takes an immense amount of talent, consistency and commitment to excellence to secure 24 straight non-conference wins by double-digits and for the UConn men’s basketball program, that’s exactly what happened. After Monday’s 84-64 win over the New Hampshire Wildcats, the Huskies were able to add another impressive record to their catalog.
But what did it take to do so? For the defending national champions, it all started with Donovan Clingan. In front of a packed Gampel Pavilion crowd, the Bristol native looked sensational as he dominated in the paint and showed off why he’s one of the most feared big men in all of college basketball. In the first half alone, No. 32 had a stat line of 16 points on a perfect 7-7 from the field, along with five rebounds to compliment.
But, the biggest part of why UConn was able to do so well in the first half had to do with their defense. While the Wildcats did themselves little to no favors with a poor shooting performance to start the contest, the program truly hurt themselves with 14 first-half turnovers. Meanwhile, the Huskies feasted off those mistakes with a staggering 15 points off New Hampshire’s turnovers and built on an already sizeable lead.
Aside from the dominance of Clingan in the paint, the Huskies collectively shined on the offensive end. But, this squad would’ve looked completely different without the contributions of Cam Spencer. Even if you weren’t to mention his impeccable shooting, which saw the Rutgers transfer register eight points on 3-6 shots from the field in that category, it would be impossible to overlook his relentless defensive effort that gave him three steals in the first half alone. Without players like Spencer helping to fuel the Huskies on the defensive end, Connecticut would not have had the lead that it did to start the second half.
Starting off the second half, the program picked up right where they left off. Clingan missed just one basket in that time, finishing with 29 points in an impressive night for the star big man. Spencer added to his impressive offensive night with 15 points on 5-10 shooting from the field. Even Samson Johnson went a perfect 4-4 in the paint with 10 points and eight rebounds.
However, the program certainly had some things they could improve on in the second half. 39.4% shooting from the field after the first half and 14.3% from the three-point line throughout the entire game is not going to cut it against tougher opponents. They also can’t let players like Jaxson Baker put up 15 points in the first half alone, a situation that could plague the program in close games.
Dan Hurley was critical of his team’s problems after the win, especially their three-point shooting.
“These guys need to get in the gym, need to get off their phones, need to get off the video game headset and they need to get in the gym because those are wide-open looks,” said the UConn coach.
For Clingan specifically, this game was more important than just the score. This would be his final opportunity for playing time before a much-anticipated matchup with Kansas and their star-studded big man, Hunter Dickinson. It’s going to take everything from the sophomore to win a tough battle in the paint on both ends of the court, but with everything he showed on Monday, it was certainly a step in the right direction.
“That’s a big-time matchup. [Dickinson’s] a great big. One of the best in the country. I’ve gotta give him that respect and I gotta go out there and do what I do and dominate. I gotta rebound the ball, block shots, play my best defense possible and attack him on the offensive end. Friday is gonna be a team game. It’s not a one-on-one performance. In order to beat such a good team like Kansas, we gotta play as a team and play at our best level,” said Clingan.
For Connecticut to take the next step in their progression with this unit and grab a huge win against a program like Kansas, it will certainly start with correcting the problems they encountered in matchups like this. As Hurley noted in the team’s post-game press conference, they can’t expect to win games against opponents like the Jayhawks while giving up 29 free throws.
The Huskies may have made history on Monday evening, but the battle has just started with the toughest part of their non-conference schedule yet to arrive. If they want to come out strong before Big East competition, they’ll need to make sure that they continue to put in the work as a collective unit to rise to the challenges that their opponents put in their way.