Men’s Basketball: Huskies ride dominant second half to 87-60 quarterfinals win over Xavier

Thursday’s 87-60 win for the UConn men’s basketball team over the Xavier Musketeers may have had one of the slowest starts of the season for one of the strongest programs in the nation. Yet, at the same time, that simply added more fuel to the fire for a squad that has had this week circled on their calendars since the beginning of the season.

Ever since losing to Marquette last season during the 2023 Big East Tournament, Connecticut has greatly desired a shot at redemption. The quest toward that very goal began with a noon matchup on March 14th against the Musketeers under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden.

But, it certainly wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, and the first half of Thursday’s showdown perfectly demonstrated that. Against the No. 9 seed in the tournament, the Huskies gave up a quick 10-0 run, though they responded right back with a 13-0 run of their own to give themselves a three point lead.

While many expected one of the top teams in the nation to continue to take advantage of this momentum, coach Sean Miller showed in the first half that his squad is no slouch. They continued to give the No. 2 team in the nation plenty of trouble as Xavier converted plenty of shots in the paint. Led by the play of Big East Most Improved Player Desmond Claude and energetic guard Quincy Olivari, the program had a narrow two point lead over the Huskies.

Thanks to a late offensive surge from Spencer from beyond the arc, the team walked into the half with a 34-33 lead. UConn may have been shooting nearly 40% from the field, but a dismal 28.6% mark from three certainly didn’t help their case. That’s not to mention that the Musketeers were making some quick work of UConn’s defense. Safe to say that the team needed a strong response in the final 20 minutes.

“We weren’t panicking by any means,” said Stephon Castle. “Nobody said the game was going to be easy. Just because we weren’t blowing them out doesn’t mean that we were playing bad. We just knew that we were gonna have to go on a run in the second half.”

And as this squad has done time and time again, they did just that. The biggest thing was that it was no one-man show for Dan Hurley and Co. Instead, this was once again a collective effort, highlighted by an incredible 78% shooting mark in the second half.

“That’s like 2K numbers,” said Alex Karaban.

Once the Huskies got back on the floor, it was almost like a whole new team suited up. Players like Tristen Newton, who had just 5 points on 2-5 shooting in the first half, stepped up to give his guys a huge boost with 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. However, the player who made the biggest jump on the team was Connecticut’s man in the middle. 

Donovan Clingan didn’t necessarily look like his normal self, accumulating just 2 points off the bench. That meant Samson Johnson needed to play some big minutes and he certainly did, contributing 8 points in 8 minutes.

“I just think he’s gotten back to the things that he does well. He’s learned to handle the physicality of these games, and he was a major difference maker,” said coach Dan Hurley following the win.

Yet, in the second half, Clingan shined, securing 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. His impact on both ends of the court helped take the pressure off the entire roster and that, in turn, gave a sizable advantage to the Huskies. 

Looking ahead to Friday

With this win, Connecticut now moves on to the semi-finals and after the St. John’s Red Storm took care of business against the Seton Hall Pirates in their quarterfinals matchup, they’ll face off against the Huskies in a blockbuster matchup on Friday at 5:30 EST.

It will not only be a battle between both of these programs, but also their fanbases. With the way that each fill up Madison Square Garden, it’s going to be quite the storyline leading up this matchup.

Thursday’s 91-72 win for the Johnnies showed that this is certainly going to be a challenge for the No. 2 team in the nation. The team had multiple double-figure scorers in their victory over the Pirates, led by 18 points from R.J. Luis Jr. When you factor in former Husky and national champion Nahiem Alleyne, that’s a scary sight for Hurley’s squad. While it was well known that St. John’s is an NCAA Tournament team ahead of Friday’s game, Thursday certainly showcased how dangerous the team could be.

Naturally though, even before the team knew that they’d face the Red Storm on Friday, the goal and mentality remains the same for this unit

“I know, as a program, the last couple of years, we haven’t been able to get over that hump to go to the Big East Championship. It’s a huge motivating factor. I believe this team can do it and it’s somewhere that we really wanna go because I know this team can do it,” said Karaban.