NEW YORK — These are the nights you hope never end. Madison Square Garden decked out and lit up, the two teams that want to say they own the place going at it as if their lives were at stake, not just their seasons.
Lives weren’t at stake, neither was ownership of the arena nor the seasons for UConn and St. John’s, but it felt that way. This is the way these Friday nights at the Big East tournament make it feel, the reason they weren’t the same, not for UConn or for the Big East for those seven desultory years when they were apart.
Connecticut lives for this night, as much as any other on the college basketball calendar and, with Rick Pitino now in town, so did St. John’s, here on its home court for the first time in 25 years. The electricity was felt everywhere, well, except for the power strips on press row, but that’s my problem, not yours.
The Huskies came to claim what was rightfully theirs, the Big East tournament title to go with the regular-season crown they clinched on March 3 and the national championship they captured a year ago. “The Triple Crown,” UConn coach Dan Hurley called it, and he wants it for his veterans.
“We’re going to treat (the final against Marquette) like it’s the Super Bowl,” Hurley said.
It took a great team to beat him twice; it took a champion to beat Rick Pitino a third time, as the Huskies did, 95-90.
Pitino came here to steal the thunder in his first season. Hired to breathe new life into this long dormant program, he did that in his own needling, audacious and roundabout ways, getting his team to buy into his every brainstorm and win seven in a row to finish the season, then take a quarterfinal here over Seton Hall , which should be good enough for the NCAA selection committee.
That didn’t stop Pitino from screaming “That’s BS” and repeating it until he drew a technical in the first half; the same Pitino who a few weeks ago said working the officials was “a form of cheating,” a way of getting under Hurley’s skin. Hurley, up in arms over something a fan was shouting, came over to complain and drew a technical himself.
Later, when officials came to remove the fan, Hurley told them to let him stay. “Not because he was a nice guy, but because I thought it might be bad luck,” he said.
To get a hold of himself, Hurley took three minutes to meditate in the locker room at halftime.
Offsetting Ts. Only Hurley, only Pitino, only at The Garden on this Friday night. Before the game, the conference reupped to keep this event here through 2032, which will make 50 years as its permanent home. It would be great if the business side of college conference alignment, which has taken so much away from so many, could leave this alone. But there are just no guarantees.
So we’re left to live in the moment, the best way to live for sports, anyway, and revel in this night, the night Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley were caught, one might say, between the moon and New York City.
It was a night when the Huskies were more fortunate than usual to have deadpanned, sometimes smirking Tristen Newton on their side to take over in the maelstrom of emotions and pour in 25 points. A night when freshman Jaylin Stewart came off the bench to capture his first big opportunity, going 4-for-4 and offering a glimpse of the player he can be when this fabulous lineup is broken up by time and the NBA.
It was not going to be easy for UConn, no matter the records or rank. It wasn’t supposed to be, not when The Garden is full and as close to 50-50 as it can get. It could only be hard, only be memorable.
At the center, though hardly the calm of the storm, Hurley, the kid at 51 and Pitino, the old timer will all his coaching tricks intact at 71, will battle again. They may be right back here on this Friday night a year from now, but it may never again be quite like this. Pitino is determined to make St. John’s relevant, and he is succeeding. Hurley is heading to make history, and he is succeeding.
So ultimately, this Friday night went to UConn, which pulled away, sort of, in the second half. Newton scored and so did backcourt mate Cam Spencer, that different style of smart aleck, who had 20. And they made every big shot. Every. Big. Shot.
“It lived up to everything everyone hoped for.” Hurley said. “The emotions, the intensity, the shot-making. It was fun to be a part of.”
There have been nights here that it seemed would never end, like the six OT game between UConn and Syracuse in 2009. Nights like these never really do end, they are to be relived. The last time UConn was here, during the middle of the five-wins-in-five-days miracle of 2011, has never ended in hearts and minds. This night, if its details will be soon forgotten, its feel will not. We can only hope for more, and there will be more on Saturday night.
