UConn turns it on late to rip Marquette and win Big East Tournament

One night, Connecticut puts up 95 points, looking like an indomitable offensive force. The next, it can’t throw the ball in the ocean for large portions of the game, and relies on its defense.

As Rick Pitino said after losing to the top-seeded Huskies Friday night, they can beat you 100 different ways. Consider this Big East Tournament a great example.

The Huskies rode their defense until they found the range.

Once that happened, No. 3 Marquette had no shot.

Dan Hurley’s team pulled away late for its first Big East Tournament crown since rejoining the league, beating Tyler Kolek-less Golden Eagles, 73-57, at the Garden Saturday night.

The title was the Huskies first league tournament title since 2011 and eighth overall, tying Georgetown for the most in Big East history.

With Houston and Purdue both losing in their respective conference tournaments, defending national champion Connecticut could be looking at the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

It certainly looks the part, capable of becoming the first repeat national champion since Florida in 2006-07.

It broke open a close game with a 19-5 run that was spearheaded by freshman Jaylin Stewart. Marquette was right there prior to the burst, down only two.

By the end of it, the game was over, the Huskies holding a 16-point lead with 5:54 to go.

On a night when Cam Spencer was held to four points and Tristen Newton was off too, it didn’t matter.

Donovan Clingan rebounded from a shaky semifinal against St. John’s with a dominant 22-point, 16-rebound, two-block performance.

Stewart added nine points off the bench, his second-highest point total of the season.

Remarkably, Marquette shot 48 percent from the field in the second half and was outscored by 14.

Once UConn got going, it wasn’t slowing down. It shot 63 percent from the field after halftime. Kam Jones had 13 points to lead the Golden Eagles and David Joplin followed with 12, but the two only shot a combined 9 of 29.