NEW YORK — Donovan Clingan put up 22 points and 16 rebounds, Tristen Newton and Jaylin Stewart each drilled three critical 3-pointers and No. 2 UConn pulled away from No. 10 Marquette to win the Big East championship game 73-57 on Saturday night.
The top-seeded Huskies claimed their first Big East tournament title since 2011, before the university left the conference from 2013-2020. After sweeping third-seeded Marquette during the regular season, UConn avenged a semifinal loss to the Golden Eagles in last year’s tournament.
Newton had 13 points, 10 assists and five rebounds for UConn (31-3), which will be in the mix for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Stewart — a freshman who came in averaging 2.4 points per game — scored all nine of his points in the second half, when the Huskies overcame another slow start to shoot 63 percent from the floor.
UConn came out cold on offense, similar to its starts in the previous rounds against Xavier and St. John’s. A 19-5 second-half run powered by Newton and Stewart broke the game open.
Kam Jones tallied 13 points and eight rebounds and David Joplin added 12 points and six boards for the Golden Eagles (25-9), the defending conference tournament champions, who reached this year’s tournament final despite star guard Tyler Kolek sitting out all week with an oblique injury.
UConn missed its first eight attempts from the floor, including three layups, before Samson Johnson subbed in and dunked at the 13:27 mark. Marquette hardly took advantage at the other end, starting 2-for-11 from the floor.
Neither side led by more than four throughout the first half. The Huskies missed their first eight 3-point tries before going ahead 19-15 when Newton finally connected with 3:41 remaining.
Joplin deflected a pass for a steal and score, then blocked a shot that led to Jones’ 3-pointer at the other end to give Marquette a 22-21 advantage with 1:39 left.
After the teams traded baskets, Newton collected his dribble and knocked down another 3-pointer with three seconds left for a 26-24 UConn lead at the break.
Clingan’s catch and dunk through a foul prompted a brief UConn run that gave the Huskies a four-point lead. It wasn’t until Stewart connected from outside and Newton added a triple on consecutive possessions that the Huskies made it 47-41 with 9:27 to play.
Stewart knocked down his next two triples, Hassan Diarra added one and UConn’s flurry ultimately grew the lead to 60-44 with 5:54 left.
One last push by the Golden Eagles got them within 11 points down the stretch.
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media