UConn stakes its latest claim as nation’s best as Huskies overpower North Carolina

Alex Karaban watches 3-pointer fall as he and UConn defeat North Carolina Tuesday. At 8-1, Huskies rebounded from loss at Kansas to reposition themselves among national championship favorites. (Photo by UConn Men’s Basketball)

NEW YORK — Part of the beauty of college basketball at this time of the season is the lack of a clear-cut favorite.

A small group usually begins to emerge toward the end of the non-conference portion of the schedule, as December cedes to January and the return of league play, but seldom does one team establish itself as a standout championship contender before the holidays.

This season may be different in that aspect, but similar to last year’s conclusion given the presence of the University of Connecticut among the forefront of strong contingents.

All season, the Huskies have made one statement after another in their national title defense, even in defeat as last Friday’s effort at Kansas showed. UConn’s latest act, an 87-76 dismantling of North Carolina whose final score was by no means indicative of how the game was truly played, is arguably its most impressive and resounding salvo.

“We just got absolutely everything that we wanted to get out of when we put this on the schedule,” Dan Hurley said after UConn turned a six-point lead with less than nine minutes to play into an insurmountable 17-point cushion after a 14-3 run late in the second half. “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 with a couple guys banged up, just to put that type of impressive performance (together) speaks to the group that we have this year.”

“We knew they were gonna make a run,” Alex Karaban said of the Tar Heels, who did trim a 13-point deficit to five earlier in the final stanza. “We had to go against runs in Kansas, Texas, Indiana, all of them. We just had to stay together, stay strong, really respond after that. We knew we were good enough to respond to that run they had and just have trust in one another.”

“My approach was different towards this game. It wasn’t towards the shot, it was just trying to make winning plays and really just try to affect the game rather than just shooting. I think going in with that approach really helped me gain my confidence back, and really just started to open up new things in the game.”

Coincidentally, it was Karaban who ignited the game-breaking run for the Huskies on a 3-pointer that put his team ahead by a 72-63 margin, but the victory — just the second all-time for UConn against UNC —was a true team effort, said Hurley.

“We just had a really good balance of running our stuff and executing,” he proclaimed. “I thought our guys also attacked and made plays off script. And then to go 25 assists with eight turnovers on 34 made baskets, I felt like we could have made three or four more.”

“It’s big-time for us,” Karaban said of answering the call yet again, and in such emphatic fashion after a heartbreaking loss at Kansas. “To respond against a Top 10 team, you couldn’t ask for much more. It’s going to 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, so just really having the confidence in which we did beat a Top 10 team, we’ll just carry that on towards our next game and Big East play.”

The citing of room for improvement on an 8-1 team coming off a national championship is, admittedly, an uncommon sight in most circles, but that is the true ethos of Hurley. Rarely, if ever, satisfied as a result of his blue-collar upbringing and self-admitted desire to be a perfectionist, the coach conceded the Huskies are still nowhere near his vision of a finished product. But with Donovan Clingan still rehabbing his foot injury and Stephon Castle having just returned Tuesday from a sprained knee that cost him six games and three weeks of action, the gradual progress was to be expected.

“I don’t think we’re as good as we were last year at this time, obviously,” Hurley reiterated. “But I think we have a chance to get maybe as close to as good as last year’s team by the end. We didn’t come into this healthy. Donovan's been hobbled since the season started, so he’s a shell of himself right now, and for Steph, that was almost like opening night. You play a couple buy games and you go on the shelf for three weeks, and now basically, your opening night game is at MSG versus Carolina. So when we get Steph up to speed and we get Donovan healthy and feeling good, this is obviously a formidable team, just like last year’s.”

“Obviously we were disappointed in the loss (at Kansas), but we know our level. We know our level and we know that we’re not near our level yet, because we’re not firing on all cylinders yet.”