UConn keeps Big East looking strong in March Madness 2023

By Bryan Fischer
Published

One day over a few adult beverages or a generous dosage of truth serum, members of the NCAA men’s tournament selection committee might be able to let us know if they had a bit of a collective, devious smile upon bracketing No. 13 Iona just a few hours from campus in Albany against a fourth-seeded UConn eyeing another Final Four run.

The contest represented one of the must-see games of the first weekend of the Big Dance, pitting two analytics darlings against each other while layering on top of it the juicy storyline of Dan Hurley facing off against one of the best at this time of the year in Rick Pitino. 

[Sources: St. John's intends to hire Rick Pitino as coach]

Whatever the reasoning behind any such scheming for the matchup, the real thing lived up to the high billing on Friday evening as the Huskies notched an entertaining 87-63 victory over the Gaels.

Even the deceiving final margin wasn’t quite reflective of what transpired over the course of 40 minutes, an up-and-down-the-court masterpiece that was among the best games of the first round — especially in the first half. UConn, whose depth has been a hallmark of the program this season and a reason the Huskies sit fourth in the latest KenPom rankings, got contributions throughout the bench to allow Hurley’s side to eventually pull away late.

"We played well in the first half but they made a lot of shots," Hurley told the broadcast after the game. "If you want to win this time of year, your big guns have to show up and play at a high level." 

That they did as the program won its first NCAA Tournament game seven years to the day of its last back in 2016. 

Freshman Donovan Clingan was superb early on both ends of the court as the 7-foot-2 center blew past his season averages well before the midway mark and finished with 12 points and a rebound shy of a double-double. Turnovers and a handful of point-blank misses kept Iona up by one at halftime as it pushed the pace to try to negate the size advantage the Huskies had on just about every Clingan touch in the post. 

That was all merely the opening act for teammate Adama Sanogo however, who emerged from the locker room to completely take over the contest and turn a nail-biter into a routine rout for the Huskies. The First Team All-Big East performer was borderline unstoppable on his way to a game-high 28 points and 13 rebounds – recording a double-double in the second half alone on 10-of-12 shooting before being subbed out to raucous applause in upstate New York with over two minutes remaining. 

The junior forward by way of Mali made it all look effortless, using nifty footwork around the rim for easy layups along with raining down a handful of powerful dunks over the smaller Gaels. 

Andre Jackson Jr. fed the low post plenty on his way to seven assists and 10 points, marking a quality showing in his return to the Albany area that he grew up in. Backcourt mate Jordan Hawkins managed to hit double-figures with 13 second-half points, a reflection of just how things went down the stretch for his team as the guard overcame a 0-of-6 shooting slump to begin the game.

Pitino, who rotated far more than he would have liked to with an overmatched squad, seemed to initially be in prime position to pull off a shocker in the West Regional matchup but failed to make much of a dent on the defensive end as time ticked down. Things particularly seemed to unravel for the MAAC tournament champs following a 1-of-6 start to the second half that they never could recover from to make it interesting again.

Walter Clayton Jr. was one of the few outside threats from the field for Iona and finished with a team-high 15. He also went a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe to end the season with just five missed free throws total. 

The loss not only ends Iona’s season but is bound to unleash even more speculation as to the future of their 70-year-old coach. Pitino is expected to move just down the road from his current gig – sources told FOX Sports' John Fanta Friday afternoon that St. John's intends to hire Pitino.

If Pitino ultimately ends up back in the all-too-familiar confines of the Big East, the conference that lives and breathes hoops can hang its hat on the Huskies' performance solidifying a quality effort in the first round of the NCAA Tournament no matter what happens moving forward. 

The league moved to 4-0 to kick off the first weekend of action with UConn’s victory before Providence fell to higher-seeded Kentucky later in the evening. 

Big East champion Marquette used a big second-half run fueled by Kam Jones to push Vermont aside 78-61 and end its own tournament drought with the Golden Eagles’ first victory in March Madness since 2013.

"So one of the best things I thought our guys did throughout the day was not be offended or bothered that Vermont was trying to win. That really helped us. And we just kept playing. And we focused on getting the next stop, getting the next score," Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said. "What allowed us to break the game open, obviously, was when you put the ball in Kam Jones' hands, he's a uniquely gifted scorer. He's got a couple more steps to take as a player, and with his competitive maturity, to be able to do that all the time."

Marquette moves on for a fascinating matchup against Michigan State in the second round while Xavier, which the Eagles beat in Madison Square Garden last week, gutted out a 72-67 victory over upset-minded Kennesaw State. Creighton, meanwhile, beat NC State, 72-63.

"Tonight's game was very similar to our DePaul opening-round Big East Tournament game where we got down big and then really maybe the last 12 minutes of the game, you know, we fought hard to win," Musketeers coach Sean Miller said. "So we're fortunate. This game could have gone either way. I think everybody up here on the podium knows that we have to be better on Sunday than we were today, but really grateful to still be in the Tournament.

Miller advances to take on his alma mater Pitt in a game that won’t lack for storylines with a Sweet 16 berth on the line in two days. The Panthers were sent to the First Four but have won two in a row to advance, including a thumping of Iowa State earlier on Friday that saw the Cyclones held to just 23% shooting.

"Until you actually go through the tournament, you don't really understand how fragile it is between advancing and going home tonight," Miller said. "We've experienced that, and we've looked at it in the eye, and my hope is that we can respond and be better."

The thin line between winning and losing is something that a team like UConn has experienced in past iterations of the tournament and seemed to be flirting with early on against Iona. But thanks to a well-timed halftime break and a handful of words from Hurley, the Huskies are moving on in impressive fashion to solidify quite a start to the tourney for themselves and their fellow Big East rivals.

Bryan Fischer is a college football writer for FOX Sports. He has been covering college athletics for nearly two decades at outlets such as NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports and NFL.com among others. Follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.

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