NEW YORK – Tristen Newton loves the big stage.
Back at Madison Square Garden, where an apparent sold out crowd was largely filled with red Indiana apparel on Sunday afternoon, the fifth-year point guard who starred in last year’s national championship game took control of UConn’s offense. Leading the fifth-ranked Huskies to a 77-57 win over the Hoosiers in the opening game of the Empire Classic, he had a game-high 23 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two steals.
“Not much not to like,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said of Newton’s performance. “He was the best player in the national championship game in front of 75,000 people with all of the money on the table. So coming into MSG, in an atmosphere like this, for him is exciting. He’s an accomplished player.”
Cam Spencer, Newton’s running mate in the backcourt, added 18 points on 5 of 8 shooting, 2 of 4 from deep, with five rebounds.
“That’s a heck of a backcourt right there,” Hurley said.
As Donovan Clingan (seven points, nine rebounds) held his own in a physical battle against Kel’el Ware and Malik Reneau down low, Newton and Alex Karaban each finished the first half with 11 points. Reneau, the Indiana forward, made 6 of his 7 shots in the first half for a game-high 15 points, including a three-point play with five seconds left that cut UConn’s lead to 37-30 at halftime.
Solo Ball, in the starting lineup for the second straight game after the injury to Stephon Castle, scored his first points on a layup to break the seal in the second half and made a 3-pointer off Newton’s fourth assist of the game that put UConn up 44-30, its largest lead of the game to that point. Indiana responded with a 7-0 run, but a string of second-chance opportunities – and layups from Newton – helped the Huskies maintain a modest lead.
Reneau spent a good chunk of the second half on the Indiana bench after picking up his fourth foul, and fouled out around the seven-minute mark. UConn took advantage and used a 10-0 scoring run over the next two minutes and change to extend its lead to 20.
Spencer hit a 3-pointer in front of the Huskies’ bench as part of that run which all-but sealed the win.
“This is the best arena in the world, so being able to play here and have the fans come out like they did, it’s great but these are the games that you live for so I wanted to leave it all on the floor,” Spencer said.
Hurley, after UConn’s win over Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday, was frustrated with the way his older returners made the game more difficult for the freshmen as they allowed offensive rebounds and forced themselves to the bench with foul trouble, never really getting into a flow on offense.
That was the main focus in practice this week and it paid off as the Huskies outrebounded Indiana 44-22 and dominated the offensive glass, 15-4.
“Coach (Jim) Calhoun, two-on-two rebounding. Shoutout the G.O.A.T.,” Hurley said. “His old two-on-two rebounding drill, you keep those guys in there until they get two in a row. There was some embarrassing free throw rebounding versus Mississippi Valley State – and that’s part of our formula, our identity: Elite defense, elite offense and win the backboard. If you do those things, you’re gonna win a lot.”
Capitalizing on the extra possessions Sunday, UConn had 16 second-chance points to the Hoosiers’ zero.
“This was our first big game, so I feel like they (coaches) rely on me to be aggressive and make the right plays on the court,” said Newton, who drew 10 fouls in the game and made 8 of 10 from the free throw line. “They had the trust in me and they instilled that confidence in me to go out there and perform how I feel like I need to perform.”
Ball finished with nine points and Karaban had 13 with six rebounds. The Huskies only seven points from their bench, three of which came as a deep-ball from Apostolos Roumoglou in garbage time.
“Solo is trying to find his way around out there, a freshman starting in that spot right there, his second career start, I loved his second half,” Hurley said. “I’m excited for Alex’s game tomorrow because he had 13 but he probably should’ve had 19 and was kicking himself, he had a couple clean looks that I know he’s used to making.”
UConn (4-0) will play No. 19 Texas for the Empire Classic title at 7 p.m. Monday night after the Longhorns beat Louisville on a last second shot from guard Max Abmas on Sunday evening.
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