NEW YORK – Four players scored in double figures as the fifth-ranked UConn men’s basketball team defeated No. 9 North Carolina, in a battle between blue bloods at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night.
It is UConn’s first win in five appearances in the Jimmy V Classic and first over North Carolina since 2002.
“We just got absolutely everything that we wanted to get out of (this game) when we put this on the schedule,” head coach Dan Hurley said. “The atmosphere was awesome, the opponent is one of the best teams in the country, and it was just such a great test coming off the disappointment of the Kansas loss on the road and then playing an opponent like this, coming in with a couple of guys banged up, and just to put up that type of performance.”
All it took was a new pair of shoes for Cam Spencer, who led the Huskies with 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists. After hurting both of his feet in Friday’s game against Kansas and shooting just 2 of 12 from the field, Spencer chose a different pair of kicks and looked comfortable all night as he shot 8 of 14 and made a trio of 3-pointers to bounce back from that tough loss to the Jayhawks on the road.
“I did switch the sneakers, the other ones weren’t working out for me,” Spencer said. “Not to blame, but they weren’t working for my toes.”
Alex Karaban, also in a bit of a shooting slump and dealing with a hurt finger coming into the game, made just 2 of 9 from deep but did just about everything else. He finished with 18 points on 8 of 17 shooting from the field and added nine rebounds and five assists. Tristen Newton scored 10 points in the second half and finished with 14, while freshman Solo Ball found his shot and made 3 of 6 from deep, finishing with a career-high 13 points.
Stephon Castle, who was on the bench to start the game, checked in at the 12:30 mark to a loud ovation from the fairly split MSG crowd. He finished with 3 points (1 of 3) but was active on both ends of the court with four rebounds and a block in just 11 minutes.
It was an important win for the Huskies after their tough loss on the road at Kansas. Spencer, a graduate student who came up short on the last-second 3-point attempt to win the game, had the veteran experience to carry his feelings into Tuesday’s battle of blue bloods.
“After the Kansas loss I put a lot of that on myself watching the film, so I definitely came in with a lot of motivation and anger to just help the team in any way that I could,” he said. “And I thought we just raised our intensity level from that Kansas game with a lot of the little things and rebounding.”
The intensity led to a technical foul on Spencer, the first he can remember during his college career – though, Hurley quipped that they come often in practice – after he had some words for the Tar Heels’ big man Armando Bacot (who earned a technical of his own minutes prior) following a corner 3-pointer early in the second half.
Spencer got going early and helped the Huskies put points on the scoreboard in the first half but it wasn’t until consecutive buckets from Solo Ball that UConn got some breathing room with a seven-point lead. The Tar Heels responded with a 7-0 run to tie it at 23 before Spencer and Diarra pushed UConn’s lead to 10, its largest of the opening period, with a 10-1 run that took less than two minutes.
UConn’s shooting struggles continued in the first half, the team just 4 of 16 from deep, but the Huskies were active on the glass and outrebounded North Carolina, 21-14 and 7-3 on the offensive end.
Clingan, Newton and Johnson were limited with two early fouls a piece, and North Carolina cut the lead to five after a putback dunk from Bacot – which drew a technical foul – and a last second 3-pointer from four-man Harrison Ingram that made it 44-39 at the half.
“Donovan’s been hobbled since the season started, so he’s a shell of himself right now,” Hurley said.
The Huskies’ shooting slump seemed to have run its course early in the second as, after a layup from Newton, Karaban connected on his first triple of the game, then Ball, then Spencer and Ball again. Four 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half pushed UConn’s lead to 13.
“I just love playing on big stages and just showing what I can do,” said Ball, the freshman who made his first two career starts at Madison Square Garden during the Empire Classic. “I could care less about my offensive end, I just want to make sure my team is winning at the end of the day. If nothing’s falling, you just gotta lock in on defense.”
RJ Davis, who finished with a game-high 26 points and provided most of the Tar Heels’ offense in the second half, made a 3-pointer and stole UConn’s ensuing inbound pass for a layup to cut UConn’s lead to five with 12 minutes to go.
The Huskies held North Carolina, one of the better offensive teams in the nation, to 39% from the field in the second half.
UConn shot 55% from the field and 40% (6 of 15) from deep to close out the game and had a 42-32 advantage on the glass. A 12-3 run late, started by a 3-pointer from Karaban that was answered with another from Ball, allowed for an eruption of UConn fans in the Garden with the lead extended to 15, the largest of the game.
UConn (8-1) will play a buy game against Arkansas Pine Bluff on Saturday before traveling for its third top-10 matchup in this two week stretch against No. 7 Gonzaga in Seattle.
“It’s big time from us. To respond against a top-10 team, you couldn’t ask for much more,” Karaban said. “It’s gonna create great momentum for us continuing, we’re not done with just beating North Carolina, we want to continue because we have such a tough schedule heading forward.”