STORRS, Conn. — Top-ranked UConn welcomed back star center Donovan Clingan from injury Wednesday and used a stifling defense to beat No. 18 Creighton 62-48.
Tristen Newton scored 16 points for the Huskies (16-2, 6-1 Big East), who were playing their first game ranked No. 1 since 2009. Cam Spencer and Alex Karaban each had 13 points, with all of Karaban’s scoring coming in the second half.
Clingan, a 7-foot-2 sophomore, came off the bench to score six points and grab five rebounds in 16 minutes.
Steven Ashworth led Creighton (13-5, 4-3) with 14 points. Baylor Scheierman, who came into the game averaging 18 points a game, added 12.
UConn dominated down low, outscoring Creighton 36-20 in the paint and outrebounding the Bluejays 48-32.
The Huskies led by 11 points at the half and used a 9-0 run to go up 41-23 early in second half.
An alley-oop dunk from Stephon Castle to Clingan gave the Huskies their first 20-point lead at 48-28.
The Bluejays used an 18-8 run to cut the lead to 10 points on a 3-pointer by Scheierman with 2 1/2 minutes left.
Clingan, who missed the past five games with a tendon injury in his right foot, checked into the game with 11:42 left in the first half and the game tied at 12.
The Huskies scored the next seven points, part of a 14-2 run that gave the Huskies a 23-14 lead.
Clingan got his first block with just under 5 minutes left in the half and his first basket on a put-back with just over 4 minutes left. The Huskies outscored the Bluejays 15-4 when he was in the game in the first half.