UConn Basketball: 3 takeaways from tough loss against Kansas
By John Makuch
3. Tristen Newton balled out in this game
When you lose your star guard, you need another guard to go ahead and step up in that absence. Not only were you missing your star guard, but the guard next to you who is also supposed to play well is not at 100%, so it came down to Tristen Newton to perform in the biggest game of the season, and he did exactly that.
Newton was the best player on the floor in this game with a 31-point, six rebound, two assist night in 38 minutes of basketball. He was taking the shot clock all the way down and hitting shots that only players of his caliber can even think about making. He knocked down six threes, and all of them felt like they came in crucial moments where a miss could have put this game out of reach.
Having a guard like him in these moments shows that when this team is healthy, they are going to be deep at the guard position. Now it is hard to expect somebody to hit contested shots game after game, so you would like to see Newton create more open looks going forward, but if he’s hitting shots with a guy in his face then take that shot at the end of the shot clock and let it fly like he did.
Without his performance, this game could have gotten out of hand fast, but his play gave this team a big-time chance to win, this team just could not make enough plays down the stretch to get it done. It is going to be interesting to see which guard takes on a larger role and who has to take a step back once Castle comes back, but picking between which elite guard to give extra minutes to is never a bad problem to have in college basketball.