UConn’s defense wills top-ranked Huskies to comfortable win over St. John’s despite Karaban’s injury

Stephon Castle’s 21 points and stout defense were an X-factor as UConn continued its surge with win Saturday at St. John’s. (Photo by UConn Men’s Basketball)

NEW YORK — Forgive Dan Hurley if it seems as though he went through a sense of déjà vu Saturday when one of his primary options was unavailable for a showdown with St. John’s.

After all, the UConn head coach went through a similar experience in December, when he had to prepare for Rick Pitino and the Red Storm less than three days after Donovan Clingan suffered a foot injury in the second half of the Huskies’ loss to Seton Hall. A similar set of circumstances was presented Saturday morning after Alex Karaban tested the sprained ankle he suffered in Wednesday’s win over Providence, but was not good to go against the Johnnies.

Just as it did two days before Christmas in Hartford, UConn adjusted and won, leaving no doubt of its deserved status as the No. 1 team in the nation while pulling away to a 77-64 decision over a St. John’s team that led the reigning national champions by one point at halftime.

“I just think the expectations didn’t change,” Hurley calmly stated when asked if the absence of Karaban would affect the Huskies. “I think we expected to win today. Our whole buildup to this game, thinking (Karaban) wasn’t going to be in, was we were going to do the same thing we did when Donovan was out and Steph was out in different parts of the year. We were gonna find a way to win.”

“I think when you’re not where our program’s at right now, you have a big player out of the game, you kind of start making excuses, saying, ‘it’s okay if we lose, we’re missing someone.’ Hell no. We came here to win.”

And win, UConn did, dominating St. John’s on the boards by a 38-23 margin, feasting on its athleticism edge and the Red Storm’s inability to find a clutch shot maker outside of Daniss Jenkins. The Huskies controlled Joel Soriano on this day after the fifth-year senior nearly carried the Johnnies to a road win six weeks ago, limiting him to just six points and four rebounds after he tallied a double-double against Samson Johnson on December 23.

“Donovan was back, that helped a bit,” Hurley said of the defense on Soriano. “We kept him off the glass. To keep that team to six offensive rebounds, two of which were dead-ball, they were just total monsters on the glass. I think we were more disruptive defensively. I thought we pushed them out of the scoring area a little bit, which made it tougher for him to get it in his spots, and we sunk in on guys we thought weren’t three-point shooting threats to make it harder to throw it in.”

“All things considered, I probably didn’t imagine we could play as well and as tough as we did without Alex. He’s kind of like the brain center of the program. To outrebound that team by 15 just speaks to how we showed up here today in terms of the edge that we brought. We knew we were going to have to go to hell and back to win the game today, and have to be at our very best to beat these guys.”

Clingan was not the only returning piece to make an impact, as Stephon Castle continued his uptick with yet another game-changing performance inside Madison Square Garden. Just 72 hours removed from a 20-point night against Providence where his image was all over the Huskies’ gritty win, Castle did the same against St. John’s en route to 21 points and a stretch in the second half where he was a small-ball four and five man trusted with guarding Soriano, to whom he cedes five inches vertically. 

With Clingan and Johnson both in foul trouble midway through the second half, Hurley had to go to a smaller lineup with Castle and Jaylin Stewart up front, but the prodigious rookie made sure his coach had nothing to worry about.

“What freshman in the country is playing better than him?” Hurley passionately declared with regard to Castle. “What freshman in the country is playing better defensively, on the backboard, making threes, getting paint, that length defensively, taking away top players in our league and shutting them down? What freshman currently is playing better than him all over the court and has his team winning the way he is?”

The smaller lineup, with Tristen Newton, Cam Spencer and Hassan Diarra comprising the backcourt, has been a look Hurley has gradually acclimated to over the course of the season, most notably during Clingan’s month-long hiatus. However, the unorthodox look has actually been to the betterment of the Huskies long-term, as it enabled Hurley to not only lengthen his rotation, but also tap into the mindset of a group that had already been playing some of its best basketball to negate any potential championship hangover.

“We had to do it at different points when Don was out,” said Hurley. “J-Stew had to play some center, and we’ve had to play small. We do a lot of scramble drills, transition drills and we’ve got very smart players. Tristen’s a veteran, Cam’s a veteran, Hass has played a lot of games, so the people that were out there around that were kind of able to really self-correct on their own.”

“It just got into our depth. It forced me to play people that maybe, as coaches, we want to play the vets, especially early in the season. We were a little tight in terms of stretching the rotation, so just Solo Ball and Jaylin Stewart, getting those guys minutes, and obviously Samson getting a bunch of minutes and getting a lot of experience. The adversity, man, and being able to still win while we were going through that adversity, I think has brought this team to a confidence level that’s approaching where we were last year at some key points.”

At 20-2 and 10-1 in Big East play, UConn has shown no sign of slowing down or coming back to the rest of the field, a far cry from last January, when the Huskies went through the back end of a rough patch stemming from a 14-0 start to the season. That outfit, of course, rallied to be the last team standing in Houston last April, and while Hurley is not making a premature boast, he did acknowledge the good fortune was a net positive for his program.

“This has all been good,” he admitted. “I’ve said it before: The adversity from January last year was what won us the championship, just being able to stay together and learn how we were all screwing it up. And now, there’s just a confidence that the team has, residual from the championship and then you’re 20-2 with having three of your very best players (out).”

“We haven’t lost a game this year at full health. Obviously, the Seton Hall game wasn’t going great, but Donovan went down in that game and missed most of the second half. In the back of our minds, we know we haven’t lost a game this year at full health, and I think our confidence is pretty high.”