In a blowout loss at UConn, Villanova gets an up-close look at the new class of the Big East

STORRS, Conn. — A full moon shined above an otherwise dark Storrs Road early Saturday night, providing some extra light along the six-mile stretch that takes you from I-84 to the rural campus of the University of Connecticut.

Full moons can cause madness, some people believe, and inside Gampel Pavilion, the home of the nation’s top-ranked basketball team, lunacy reigned.

ESPN’s College Gameday broadcast from Gampel Court Saturday morning. UConn planned to unfurl a banner at halftime to honor national champion and Coatesville legend Richard Hamilton. It was $2 beer night. The fans all wore white. The Huskies, the reigning national champions, were coming off a blowout loss earlier in the week at Creighton.

That was the backdrop facing a desperate Villanova team before it took the court Saturday night. And it all ended how it was expected to end, with Kyle Neptune and his team getting an up-close look at the class of the Big East, the new top program, in a 78-54 thrashing.

“That was the best crowd maybe since I’ve been here in terms of the energy, the electricity,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said.

Hurley himself is a provider of plenty of electric energy. The Huskies’ fiery leader waved his arms for more crowd noise on multiple occasions Saturday night.

Villanova made it tough at times for UConn to get going offensively. But Cam Spencer gave the crowd plenty of reason to roar when he drilled a three out of a timeout to turn a five-point UConn lead to eight. He then hit a tough shot in a tight window and was fouled. The three-point play bumped the lead to 11, and by the time UConn was done with its put-away run, it was 59-41 and all that was left was the stat-collecting.

Tristen Newton did a lot of that, capping off a triple-double with a late assist to finish with a stat line of 10 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists. Spencer led all scorers with 25 points on 9 of 13 shooting, including five makes on eight attempts from beyond the arc.

» READ MORE: Analyzing Villanova’s NCAA Tournament chances with six games to go

Afterward, Newton was asked about bouncing back after losing at Creighton, and balancing wanting to win on a day like Saturday, for Hamilton and otherwise. He probably didn’t know it, but his answer said a lot about the state of the two programs.

“We are the best team in the country and we … losing is never a good thing,” Newton said. “A couple years ago, Villanova, they were really running the Big East and they were doing a lot of talking and stuff and even today, they were out there talking. So, I mean, how much did we win by? 24? We needed this win and we made a statement tonight.”

Heard loud and clear.

UConn hadn’t lost before Tuesday since Dec. 20. Its run of 14 consecutive wins was the best streak in the nation.

“When you lose a game, whether you lose by 20 or two, it’s jarring,” Hurley said. “And there’s this little voice in your head saying ‘Will we ever win again?’ Losing does that to you. Failure is jarring.”

Failure is a funny word to use there. One bad game isn’t failure in this sport, though coaches are wired differently. But the response Saturday, which Hurley called a “championship response,” was telling.

Champions do champion things. It may be too soon for some to want to anoint the Huskies as the new class of the conference, and two years of sustained success is not the stuff of Jay Wright’s run, but there’s no doubt UConn is the model. Hurley has combined strong recruiting classes with portal pickups like Newton and Spencer, and people want to play for winners. Maybe it won’t lead to seven Big East regular season titles in eight years, but it was hard to witness the atmosphere in Gampel Pavilion and come away thinking it was all temporary.

“It’s a good program and the guys are bought in,” said Villanova big man Eric Dixon, who scored 20 points on the night. “In a league like this, whoever has the most bought-in guys, for whatever reason, they’re probably going to win most of the games. They’ve done a great job at having guys buy-in and having guys believe in what they’re trying to get done.”

What they were trying to get done Saturday was clamp down defensively and get out and run. The Huskies swatted away seven Villanova shot attempts in the first half, en route to a 31-21 lead at the break — the lowest first-half point total for Villanova this season and second-lowest overall. UConn outscored Villanova 18-4 in fast-break points.

» READ MORE: Villanova volleyball star Abby Harrell knows a thing or two about farming ... and pigs

“It’s tough to beat a team when they score that many points in transition,” Neptune said.

To Villanova’s credit, the Wildcats continued a strong run of defense in the halfcourt. But they missed 21 of their 24 three-point attempts, and those long rebounds often led to transition opportunities for UConn.

What Saturday did, other than show Neptune and Villanova fans the new blueprint, was, well, not much. Villanova, as bubbly as bubble teams get, couldn’t hurt its tournament chances with a loss, only help them with a win.

But even that reality was in Villanova’s face as the time wound down on a blowout loss.

“Villanova isn’t good anymore,” a lone fan in the UConn student section yelled toward the Villanova bench. Then a group of them chanted “NIT” at the Wildcats.

Earlier, seven minutes into the second half, the students held up a large banner that read: “Basketball Capital of the World.” It’s a self-proclaimed title, but given the success of both the men’s and women’s programs here, it fits. A few minutes later, Spencer and Co. were putting the game away.

Storrs may not be the capital of the basketball world, but the capital of the Big East? There’s little doubt. You don’t need extra light from a full moon to see it.