No. 3 UConn routs Seton Hall, wins outright Big East title
STORRS, Conn. — Donovan Clingan scored 19 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead a balanced attack as No. 3 UConn clinched its first outright Big East regular-season title in 25 years Sunday with a 91-61 rout of Seton Hall.
Freshman Stephon Castle tied a career high with 21 points and Tristen Newton had 17 points and 10 assists for the Huskies (26-3, 16-2 Big East), who finished this season undefeated at home (16-0). Alex Karaban added 13 points.
Dre Davis had 20 points and Kadary Richmond scored 15 to lead Seton Hall (18-11, 11-7), which remains in fourth place in the Big East with the loss, a game ahead of Villanova, and on the bubble for an NCAA tournament berth.
UConn shot 56% from the floor and outscored the Pirates 52-30 in the paint.
Davis had 12 points in the first 10 minutes and 16 points in the first half for Seton Hall. His three-point play on a layup sparked a 7-0 run that gave the Pirates an 18-14 lead.
But UConn responded with a 15-2 run, highlighted by a steal and one of several highlight-reel dunks from Castle.
A floater in the lane from Karaban put the Huskies up by 15 points at intermission, and they outscored Seton Hall 47-32 in the second half.
The Huskies previously won all of their regular-season home games back in 2005-06, when they finished 16-0 in the league. That was the same season the program won a share of its most recent Big East regular-season title. They hadn’t won the title outright since 1999.