Friday evening in the big apple and at MSG there was a heavyweight fight going on at The Big East Tournament. UConn (1) ranked 2 nationally against the St John Red Storm. The atmosphere changed today, the fans were a bit louder and even one at courtside who was yelling at Big East Coach of the Year Dan Hurley. In a strange scene that unfolded early in the 1st half Red Storm head Coach Rick Pitino received a technical foul, the fan was yelling at Coach Hurley who started pointing to the referee and then Coach Hurley received a tech.
No harm no foul on the matching technician fouls. St Johns which stormed out to a 7-0 lead and 10-3 before UConn would tie it up at 13. After that St Johns offense was powered Daniss Jenkins he had an explosive game scoring a team high 27 of which he had 16 at the half. The St Johns offense comprised of Jenkins and Dingle as UConn did a good job of taking SJU out of its offensive rhythm for most of the game.
On the other side of the ball UConn’s offense looked textbook of making the extra pass, spacing the floor and finding the open man. Newton and Spencer both had 9 assists each with Newton scoring 25 and Spencer had 20. UConn held a 52-47 lead at the half after a bad luck foul on Jordan Dingle gave UConn 2 free throws with 5.7 seconds left and a last second shot by St Johns was ruled after the half expired.
The Second half saw UConn trying to impose its will on St Johns like it did against Xavier a day ago, but each time SJU fought back to keep the game within reach. Watching UConn run the floor and pass in the paint is a thing of beauty, but it may be even prettier how they take the extra pass on the outside from a shot that has a good look to a shot that has a great look. St Johns did all it could do to keep things close with the 2nd ranked Huskies, but Coach Pitino said it best UConn toys with you and then they have a 20-point lead before you know it.
The final score 95-90 Huskies go on to the Big East Championship game tomorrow vs the winner of Marquette vs Providence. This UConn team is complete, they do most things really well and are ranked 2 for a reason. They will be competing for the national championship again this year. On the other side In SJU’s 1st year under coach Pitino they have 20 wins, should make the tournament and ended up a few plays from beating number 3 in the country. Pitino will surely stock up talent and make a run at being best in the conference in the future but for today it’s UConn’s time.
