Connecticut Clinches Tie for Big East Title

As the final seconds ticked off in Connecticut’s record-setting ninth Big East regular-season championship Saturday, Coach Jim Calhoun thought of his first with the Huskies.

“I recollected back to ‘89-90, our first Big East championship, and how special it was,” he said after the 15th-ranked Huskies defeated No. 13 Syracuse, 88-70, for at least a share of this season’s title.

“This team, coming back from Notre Dame after a real tough loss, was 4-3 in the league. They went on to win nine straight games, six without our leading scorer. I have to say the two most satisfying championships clearly were that first one and this one.”

Connecticut (21-6, 13-3) ended up sharing the title with Boston College after the No. 5 Eagles beat Rutgers, 78-66, Saturday night.

“This means a lot because people were doubting us when we were 4-3,” sophomore forward Charlie Villanueva said of the title. “The accomplishments we did are unbelievable. We are still not done. We still have a lot more things to do.”

Like defend the national championship.

“We were 12-4 in the league last year and won the national championship and we’re 13-3 this year,” Calhoun said. “We did lose some players from that team in case you hadn’t noticed.”

That would be Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon, the second and third picks in the NBA draft as juniors, and Taliek Brown, Connecticut’s career assists leader.

“We’re growing,” Calhoun said of his senior-less nine-man rotation that has played the last seven games without leading scorer Rashad Anderson, who is recovering from surgery after a staph infection.

The Huskies used some impressive second-half defense to defeat the Orange (24-6, 11-5) and win for the ninth time in 10 games.