UConn’s unselfish passing and dominant second half latest signs of a championship favorite

Cam Spencer’s eight assists led UConn on a day where Huskies shared in offense and success en route to Big East tournament semifinals. (Photo by UConn Men’s Basketball)

NEW YORK — UConn entered the Big East tournament as the prohibitive favorite to cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden for the first time since Kemba Walker started the magic carpet ride of 2011.

What happened over the first several minutes, and the entire first half for that matter, indicated otherwise. But after emerging from a slugfest of an opening stanza one point ahead of Xavier, the Huskies remembered who they were in the final 20 minutes, validating their status as a legitimate threat to win a second straight national championship.

In fact, it was the 22-of-28 display from the floor after halftime, one in which UConn made each of its final 15 field goal attempts to pull away to a commanding 87-60 decimation of the Musketeers, that was the clearest harbinger of what could be another prosperous March in the Nutmeg State. Or maybe it was the 29 assists the Huskies registered on 35 made baskets. Maybe it was actually the balance and versatility in the final stat sheet, with a half-dozen players tallying 10 or more points. Either way, Dan Hurley was realistic about his group’s potential after its Big East tournament lid-lifter had concluded.

“When we’re getting stops like that and we’re getting transition opportunities, and with the way we execute offense in the half-court, we’re tough to guard when we get rolling,” he admitted. “This is a playoff game. When you’re trying to end the other team’s season, you’ve gotta be absolutely on point. The effort, the intensity and the attention to detail, it’s all gotta be there.”

But in typical Hurley fashion, he was still unsatisfied to an extent.

“I can tell you they should have had 34 (assists), he bristled. “Our lobs were a bit off and we bricked some threes. We had some sleepy s*** going on out there that I didn’t like.”

“It’s a testament to this group. There’s not many teams in the country with this level of talent — NBA players — that are willing for it to be other people’s nights on a given night.”

UConn’s unselfishness may be its most endearing and perhaps strongest suit. While Tristen Newton was his usual well-rounded self (13 points, seven rebounds, five assists), the Huskies received game-changing performances from two more key pieces, one of whom — Donovan Clingan — tapped into his inner Hulk as the game went on, much to his coach’s delight.

“He’s a gentle giant,” Hurley said of his 7-foot-2 behemoth. “Sometimes he’s gotta get that intensity level up, that nastiness. He’s such a sweetheart of a guy, and he turned it up and got pissed off. When Donovan turns it up, he impacts the game like few players in the country.”

The other was Cam Spencer. The Rutgers transfer is known as a reputed shooter, but on this day, he played equal parts marksman and distributor. Spencer’s eight dimes led the champions and unveiled a different facet of his game, one that Hurley was proud to share the development of.

“I think when we watched him, you saw a two-way player, a guy that could really pass the ball,” he said of Spencer. “I just think the offensive system fits him perfectly. He’s good in the ball screen game, he’s good off ball movement, he can go get his own shot. But yeah, we did not teach Cam how to pass, did we?”

“You did,” Spencer shot back. “A lot.”

UConn stands two wins away from a celebration Hurley longed for when he spoke at the Big East’s preseason media day in October, one that has eluded the program for 13 years. But no matter which obstacle stands in front of the Huskies between now and April 8, the mission is defined by one word, as it usually is.

Win.

“We’re playing for a championship,” Spencer proclaimed. “This is one of the biggest goals that we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year. If you don’t want to win now, then you probably shouldn’t be playing.”