The Big East Conference has always been somewhat of a different animal for its teams. They can roll in nonconference play but once they get into league action, things change.
It happened to No, 6 Marquette on Tuesday night against Providence, and another power fell in its league opener Wednesday night when Seton Hall used suffocating defense to stun No. 5 UConn 75-60 for its biggest victory in three years.
“Really, just really stunned by how unprepared I had these guys for a tough physical conference game,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. "Credit, (Seton Hall coach) Shaheen (Holloway) Credit, Seton Hall. You know, they just kind of poked us there in Big East Conference fashion. So just a really, really disappointing effort.”
Kadary Richmond had 23 points and eight steals for Seton Hall. Dre Davis added 17 points.
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The win was the third straight for Seton Hall (8-4) and snapped a three-game winning streak for the Huskies (10-2). UConn previous loss was a 69-65 setback at No. 2 Kansas.
The last time Seton Hall beat the No. 5 team was in January 2020 when it knocked off Butler. The Pirates beat Villanova twice when the Wildcats were ranked third.
Holloway agreed with Hurley that anything can happen in a conference game which many times resembles hand-to-hand combat.
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“We lost some games we probably should’ve won,” Holloway said about the nonconference part of the season. “And the reason why I’m so excited about this team is because (we’re) still not playing the way I think we could play. And that’s why I said it a couple weeks ago. I’m saying again, we still trust we can get a lot better.”
The Huskies played the final 16:33 without starting center Donovan Clingan, who left with a sprained right ankle, Hurley said. The sophomore had 14 points and seven rebounds. He went to the locker room and returned to the bench but did not play again.
Hurley called his team's performance embarrassing and said the film session Thursday will be brutal, especially when the team sees how soft it was defensively.
"We’ll react appropriately when we lose at UConn, everyone hurts,” Hurley said.
Richmond and Davis both said all Seton Hall did was play its game. It focused on defense, limiting UConn from long range (4 of 21) and being tenacious.
Pirates big man Jaden Bediako added 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, while clogging up the middle and making Clingan work for every point. Al-Amir Dawes added 11 points.
Tristen Newton had 16 points for UConn, which committed a season-high 17 turnovers and were held to a season-low point total.
Seton Hall, which shot 59% in beating Missouri on Sunday, shot 29 of 56 from the field, or 52%.
Trailing 20-10 with 8:47 left in the first half, Seton Hall closed out the period with a 24-9 spurt that featured eight points by Davis and seven straight at one point by Richmond. With the score tied at 27,
Dawes scored four points and Davis three to gives the Pirates a 34-29 halftime lead.
UConn never threatened in the second half and Seton Hall held a double-digit lead the final 7:32.
BIG PICTURE
- UConn: The Huskies beat Gonzaga on Friday and they still looked like they were on West Coast time much of the game. Clingan's status is uncertain for now.
- Seton Hall: Coming off its best game of the year with a win over Missouri, the Pirates topped that with great effort against the team that led the Big East in both scoring and scoring defense.
UP NEXT
- UConn: Hosts St. John's on Saturday.
- Seton Hall: At Xavier on Saturday.
