NEW YORK — All offseason, the player who was labeled as the breakout guy for 2023-24: UConn sophomore center Donovan Clingan. It landed him preseason All-America accolades. Maybe that winds up being the case, but for now, Clingan is dealing with a toe injury and hasn’t fully looked like himself yet after a preseason foot ailment.
Great teams overcome. UConn again looks great. Clingan’s status hasn’t slowed the No. 5 Huskies, who beat ninth-ranked North Carolina 87-76 in the marquee matchup Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic.
Nine games into Connecticut’s season, it’s clear who the big name and most important player on this roster is: graduate point guard Tristen Newton. As I wrote recently, after a different drubbing at MSG, there’s a lot to be inspired by with UConn and its national championship potential. The 6-foot-5 Newton is The Guy. If this team plays its way to a Big East title or another Final Four, Newton will be the core of the effort.
“He is what makes them go and he sets up all those other guys, so that’s been huge,” one assistant who faced UConn told me.
His growth over the past two seasons can’t be merely casually acknowledged. After transferring from East Carolina, where he put up good numbers on a bad team in the bottom of the American Athletic Conference, Newton was initially a stopgap to replace RJ Cole, who left after the 2021-22 season.
Last season, he was a support beam on a star-laden UConn team that won the national title. With three triple-doubles in 49 career UConn games, he’s already the program record holder in that category.
“Just would have expected more buzz going into the year,” UConn coach Dan Hurley told me, citing Newton’s performance in Final Four and title game. “He’s in a position now where he’s got the green light, we’re running the things for him … and we’re featuring him like he’s one of the best guards in the…
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