Tristen Newton received a “whole bunch” of phone calls when he entered his name into the transfer portal after three seasons at mid-major East Carolina University, during the last of which he averaged 17.7 points, 5 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game.
But a pair of FaceTime video calls from UConn stood out — one from associate head coach Kimani Young, another from head coach Dan Hurley — and with the program’s history of having great guards, and Hurley’s history of developing players, Newton felt like the team could compete for a national championship. He made his up his mind.
“I think that was pretty much one of the first things we said in the conversation,” Newton recalled Tuesday. “I came here, do what I have to do to make it to the Final Four and win a national championship. The fact that (the Final Four) was in Texas was also a big part of the conversation too, so just trying to get back there and win the whole thing.”
Newton was dominant as a high school basketball player in Texas. From El Paso, his coach at Burgess High, Paul Gutierrez, even upped the difficulty on his team’s schedule to give Newton looks at tougher competition. It was too easy.
When Newton was there, the Burgess team would travel the 800-or-so miles across the state eastbound to Houston or Dallas, where most of Texas’ name-brand talent is located, for tournaments.
After his standout junior year at East Carolina last season, Newton chose last April to up the difficulty again — and he wasted no time before registering a triple-double in his third game in a UConn uniform. About nine weeks later, he became the first UConn basketball player, men’s or women’s, to have two in the same season.
Newton’s playmaking ability can often be overshadowed by the eye-grabbing highlight plays of wing player Andre Jackson, who had his own homecoming when UConn played its first and second round games in Albany, N.Y., but the junior point guard has played an important role in March. Even though when Jackson is at his best, he often has the ball in his hands and splits the team’s assists.
“I don’t feel like it’s any different (when Jackson is in) because, I mean, I’m not on the ball as much but (he’s) just as good of a passer as me, so he gets me more looks and more shots off the ball,” Newton said. “So he makes my job a lot easier.”
When they’re both on the floor, Newton can become more of a wing player, still with an ability to make exceptional passes, but also able to utilize his additional scoring skill set to make an impact. He’s averaged just under eight points per game, five rebounds and almost as many assists through the four tournament games. That’s all the Huskies, with their average margin of victory over 22 points, have needed.
“I felt like every piece that we had fit around me and I fit with those guys, so (Jackson), (Jordan Hawkins) and Adama (Sanogo), everybody made a big part of my decision,” Newton said. “I knew we could get here and it just took everybody doing what they had to do and that’s what happened, so it feels great and keep doing what we did and we’ll be cutting down some more nets and holding up another trophy soon.”
After each round of the tournament, Hurley has designated which player gets to move UConn’s name into the next round on the supersized bracket in the locker room.
Jackson made sure to put the sticker on straight after the Huskies got over the hump in round one in front of his home crowd. Then Hawkins took full advantage of the opportunity and tested the durability of the extra-large poster board to move the Huskies into the Sweet 16.
After Arkansas it was Sanogo, who scored 18 points with eight rebounds and a pair of blocks while shooting 9 for 11 from the field without eating or drinking as he celebrated Ramadan. The powerful big man took his time and precisely stuck UConn’s sticker into the Elite Eight with care.
After the Huskies dominated No. 3 seed Gonzaga in the West Regional Final, it was Newton who shipped them off to his home state for the Final Four.
“It’s just an incredible group of guys to coach,” Hurley said after the game. “The additions that we brought in, Joey (Calcaterra), Nahiem (Alleyne), and getting Tristen back to Texas, right? The El Paso guy gets back, T-New gets back.”
