NEW YORK — The now familiar scene of UConn’s standout men’s basketball players ascending the ladder to snip down the nets unfolded again Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Another title, another piece of unfinished business, this time the coveted Big East tournament, was completed. Tristen Newton, the Most Outstanding Player, took his piece of twine, and Donovan Clingan, after what may have been his most dominant performance as a Husky, took his and motioned to the UConn fans filling the court. Coach Dan Hurley came last.
But this three-game coronation was not solely about the usual suspects showing up and doing their thing. There was also freshman Jaylin Stewart, who had patiently waited his turn. Stewart, who’d been playing minor roles in UConn’s wave of wins, stepped into an offensive torrent of a game against St. John’s Friday night and kept shaking free under the basket, receiving passes and hitting all four shots he took to swing momentum the Huskies’ way.
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In the championship game, Stewart stepped into a completely different game, a rock fight where the rocks kept missing wildly. With his confidence, fellow freshman Stephon Castle noted, “at an all-time high,” Stewart stuck three big three pointers to help the Huskies finally separate from Marquette.
“It’s easy when your coach just believes in you as much as Hurley believes in me,” Stewart said. “And my assistant coaches and my teammates, they just talk to me every day, tell me to play my game.”
For many of the Huskies, playing at The Garden was a dream come true. For Stewart, it was beyond that. “I can’t even describe it,” he said. From the other side of the continent, Seattle, he had no idea what he’d be walking into the first time UConn played in New York. He didn’t make a field goal against Indiana or Texas in November, didn’t play against North Carolina in December, missed the only shot he took against St. John’s in February. He was 0 for 8 from the floor in the four games before Friday.
But in the Big East Tournament, with his family in the arena, every game sold-out, Stewart, 6 foot 7 wing, went 7 for 9, looked as much at home as any of his teammates, including the ones with championship rings.
“I mean, the Big East and college basketball in general with the portal and COVID makes it tough on freshmen,” Hurley said. “Our league is especially tough on freshmen because the league is so physical. But we see on a daily basis what he displayed out there on the court. He built on yesterday’s performance. He came in with a lot of confidence. He’s a guy that like a number of our freshmen, if they wait their turn, there’s going to be some turnover from this year’s team. But you’re looking at if somebody doesn’t tamper him out of our program. All that stuff is going on right now. It’s crazy. He’s a future star. You’re looking at a future star at UConn.”
WELCOME TO THE GARDEN JAYLIN STEWART!pic.twitter.com/Odu6ZgppiT
— BIG EAST MBB (@BIGEASTMBB) March 17, 2024
Herein hangs a tale. UConn (31-3) lost several important players from its championship team, three of whom have played in the NBA, and managed to get better. The Huskies could be the No.1 overall seed, a first in the history of the program, when the brackets are revealed Sunday night.
When this all ends, Newton and Cam Spencer will be out of eligibility, Clingan and freshman Stephon Castle are projected to be early entries in the NBA Draft, and Alex Karaban, too, could be headed for the pros. That will transition the program into the hands of freshmen who will be getting opportunities, albeit limited, to experience this March Madness, freshmen like Jaylin Stewart.
“The experienced guys try to help the young guys by giving them knowledge for moments like this,” Spencer said. “But to have guys like Jaylin step up tonight, it’s very special. He was more than ready tonight. He just stuck with it. He’s got a great attitude, practices hard every day. For him to get moments like this, it’s pretty cool.”
Said Clingan: “I had no worries. I’ve seen Jaylin in practice every day.”
In the college game of days, years, decades gone by, this kind of thing would have been commonplace. Freshmen would come into a winning program and gradually work and fight their way into the starting lineup. Wait their turn, even if it took a couple of seasons. It’s how Jay Wright, for instance, did it at Villanova. But that concept is fast disappearing. The easy transfer rules, the enticements of name-image-likeness money has programs raiding other rosters, and coaches complaining about it, except, of course, when players are coming in, rather than going out.
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So for the five true freshmen on this UConn roster, patience has been required and has had to be instilled. Castle has been a starter most of the year, except for a stretch he missed with a knee injury, but he has been willing to accept his role within the framework of a team that depends so heavily on fifth-year players like Newton and Spencer. Clingan was patient last year, playing behind Adama Sanogo, and he played a complementary role on the championship team. Samson Johnson played very little for two seasons, but did not leave and he has been to Clingan what Clingan was to Sanogo last season.
For Stewart, Solomon Ball, Jayden Ross and Youssouf Singare, minutes have been scarce on a roster so stacked with veterans, some using the extra year resulting from the pandemic, that has been winning, winning, winning. Their time can come if they remain, get bigger and stronger working out of the limelight. Stewart offered the latest glimpse of the way Hurley’s program can turn over the roster and continue winning.
“High school kind of prepared me,” Stewart said. “I had a similar situation, playing (at Garfield High) with Tari Eason, playing for the Rockets right now. I had to wait my turn then, so it was easy for me to adjust to the role. The game, the physicality, that kind of took time.”
Though not hesitant to mine the portal to fill a pressing need, Hurley sticks valiantly to his belief in the player-development piece, even as the rules and the landscape change. It’s the way programs are built to last, the way he wants to run his.
“When it’s time for (the current players) to move on to the next step, this program is in good hands,” Clingan said. “We’ve got a bunch of great young players and Coach is a good recruiter. There’s a good culture here. He’s going to make everyone work their hardest and put everyone in the best positions. I’m not worried about a thing.”