Dom Amore: When you think it can’t get better, UConn men deliver even more

HARTFORD — When you think this UConn men’s basketball team has found it’s level, it rises a little higher.

When you’re sure the Huskies have won every way Naismith drew up, they find a new way.

When you think they’ve utilized all their players to the fullest, another emerges.

It has been that kind of season for the Huskies, as much of a dream as the Dream Season, itself. Everything that can go right does, and when you think it can’t get any better …

UConn delivers this brilliant Saturday performance at the XL Center, blowing away Marquette, the fourth-ranked team in the country and the lone rival within striking distance in the Big East, 81-53 and lifting the 15,684 — not an empty seat visible to he naked eye — to such volume as to shake the building.

“They’d been playing really well,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “I thought today, they played even better than they’d been playing. They were the more violent team, the more decisive team.”

The game was tied at 18 after 10 minutes, then UConn (24-2) just turned it up to full throttle, than whatever comes after full throttle, and left the fourth-ranked team in the country lying by the side of the road, waiting for the tow truck.

“We were just trying to prove who we are,” Donovan Clingan said.

Who are these Huskies? Over the last 383 days, they are 39-4, but the record from that fixed point in time is only one of the indicators that can be cherry picked. This 28-point margin was the largest on record in matchups between conference teams ranked in the top five of the AP poll.

In this game, two of UConn’s top players, Alex Karaban (2 for 9) and Stephon Castle (1 for 7) weren’t themselves. So Hassan Diarra came off the bench to score 14, and play shutdown defense on Marquette’s backcourt star, Tyler Kolek (2 for 11).

Clingan, who was making throw-downs, as well as behind-the-neck assists, had 17 points and 10 rebounds, without committing a foul. UConn had the edge in rebounds 45 to 27, and second-chance points 21-4.

And, it bears repeating, this was not a buy game or DePaul out there, it was a Marquette team not far removed from winning the Big East regular-season and tournament crowns, things UConn coveted, even as defending national champions, and things it does not look like they can be denied. UConn, at 14-1, leads the conference by three full games.

“They are a very, very connected team,” Smart said. “They have an understanding and a trust in what they do and in each other that is superior, right now, that is superior to anyone.”

Anyone, from Smart’s vantage point, includes Purdue, which was revealed as the No.1 overall seed for March Madness. Marquette lost to Purdue 78-75 earlier this season. “We played a lot better against them than we did today,” Smart noted.

The stats keep rolling off the sheet in waves. Marquette had nine assists and 13 turnovers, a testament to the havoc caused by Diarra. UConn had 24 assists on 29 field goals, a testament to their ball movement, the extra passes and the coaching.

But this is not a team, or a time, to get bogged down in analytics. UConn is playing with a certain attitude, a vibe that few teams, few coaches ever experience. Dan Hurley continued to reference January of 2023, and the six losses in eight games that nearly ruined last season. UConn won 15 of the last 17, every NCAA Tournament game by double digits, and if three from that team are now in  the NBA, the returners and the newcomers have never looked back.

So easily sit the crowns of defending national champion and No.1 ranking in the AP poll on these Husky heads.

“What’s dangerous about the way we feel as a program right now,” Hurley said, “we take the court, we don’t fear losing. Knowing what we dealt with last year, that tough stretch in January, and going on and doing what we did, dominating the tournament and winning a national championship, knowing that we dealt with a lot of adversity, as a leader of the program I’m just more relaxed and confident and I think that runs through the team. I was manic as hell last January when things were going crappy, now, I’m not holding the program back.”

Relaxed? Hurley, whether feigning or not, drew a blank on naming UConn’s next opponent. It’s Creighton, at Creighton, on Tuesday.

“We’re all very confident and you can see that when we’re out on the floor,” Clingan said, “It’s the way we carry ourselves in practice, the way we carry ourselves in shootaround, and in how we warm up before the game. No one really practices as hard as we do, especially the day before a game, and coach prepares us to go out there and battle against the best. It’s a special group of guys and we all work hard enough to have our confidence at the level it’s at.”

There is more to come, more to do. The Big East tournament has been a road block since Hurley took over the program and it joined the new configuration. That’s where UConn lost to Marquette last year. Then the NCAA Tournament, where the target on UConn’s back will be larger than ever.

But on days like Saturday, days that are extremely rare for any program, UConn looks as thoroughly in control as a basketball team can look. The wind, not a target, is most prevalent on their back.

“Coach always tells us,” Clingan said. “‘You can’t get tired of winning.’”