MILWAUKEE – Alex Karaban and Cam Spencer combined for 40 points to lead the UConn men over eighth-ranked Marquette, 74-67, in Fiserv Forum Wednesday night.
Karaban broke out of his shooting funk and led all scorers with 23 points as he went 5-for-9 from 3-point range, stuffing the stat sheet with five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. And Spencer, fiery as ever, made his first five shots from beyond the arc and turned in an impressive 17 points, eight rebounds, three steals and six assists (with no turnovers).
It was UConn’s first road win over an AP top 25 team since Jan. 16, 2014 at Memphis, snapping a 21-game losing streak in such games.
“Two championship-level programs took the court tonight,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said. “We’d love to have three battles with this team – three, four battles maybe – because I think we’re two of the best teams in the country.”
After Tristen Newton, who finished with 10 points and six rebounds, got the Huskies out to an early 5-0 lead, UConn got sloppy with the ball and Marquette took advantage with a 12-0 scoring burst. Spencer quieted the building with a 3-pointer that ended the run and Karaban made his next three triples to take a 21-17 lead around the eight-minute mark, which the Huskies never squandered.
“We’re just trying to prove what we’re about,” said center Donovan Clingan, who had nine points, 12 rebounds, four blocks and a pair of steals. “Obviously Coach made a big point of not getting complacent and not being happy winning the regular season. We had to come out here and treat today like a game (with) a lot on the line because there still is, we’ve still got to play for seeding.”
Without star point guard Tyler Kolek (oblique), Marquette had just two assists with five turnovers in the first half as UConn pushed its lead to as many as 13. The Huskies, shooting 7 of 12 from 3-point range and dominating the offensive glass, took a 42-31 lead into halftime.
“(Kolek’s) one of the best players in the country, it’s like losing Patrick Mahomes,” Hurley said. “Just hope he’s back, if not for the Big East Tournament, you just hope that guy gets a chance to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.”
The Golden Eagles came out of the break with five consecutive made shots and cut their deficit to eight, but Karaban, who was just 4 of 22 from beyond the arc over the last four games, hit his fourth 3-pointer of the night to push UConn’s lead back to 12.
“I knew I was eventually going to get out of (the slump), but it felt really good,” Karaban said. “It’s just nice to have teammates and coaches that continue to have trust in me and just continue to tell me to shoot it every time.”
UConn, assisting on 18 of its 27 made shots, was 13-for-26 from 3-point range for the game. The Huskies had a 44-31 rebounding advantage and scored 19 second-chance points to Marquette’s four.
But there was some “bad karma” in the last eight minutes, after Spencer made his fifth 3-pointer of the night.
On his way back down the court, Spencer directed some words toward the Marquette bench and was whistled for a technical foul. UConn scored just four points over the game’s final 7:54 and the Golden Eagles ended up cutting the lead to five with less than a minute left.
“He went to that too early and he’s got to reign that in,” Hurley said. “There’s some other fan bases and programs that I don’t mind him (trash)-talking them, but I didn’t like him doing it near their bench and to their fans, because these people here… It’s a classy program, it’s a championship program. Cam shouldn’t be yelling (stuff) at their bench. And he yelled it too early, too, and he caught karma on the back-end because he had wide open looks and he missed them.”
“Heat of the moment, fired up, bad timing on my part for sure,” Spencer said. “I just apologized to the guys, my emotions got the best of me and it won’t happen again.”
The Marquette student section let him hear it, chanting “(Expletive) Cam Spencer!” on a few different occasions as the game went on.
“I love it,” he said. “It fires me up. I prefer it, honestly. I love it when they’re trying to get under your skin, I think it makes you play better.”
“We love his passion, we love his energy, but in a rocking environment when it’s a close game, we can’t just give them two points,” Karaban said. “We know that, we told him during the timeout, we told him after the game, but we love Cam and that’s who Cam is. So we’re never gonna take that passion from him.”
Stephon Castle, on a relatively quiet, foul-plagued night, ended up securing the win with a pair of free throws and took a page out of Newton’s book, waving goodbye to the Marquette student section.
UConn (27-3, 17-2 Big East) is set to finish the regular season in Providence on Saturday, where it could set the Big East regular-season record for wins.
“Every game matters, we’re still thinking about March Madness seeding and trying to be the best that we can be and trying to get better,” Spencer said. “I think tonight was kind of good for us to face some adversity down the stretch and learn and grow from that, but every game matters to build momentum going into the postseason.”