HARTFORD, Conn. -- UConn is the No.1 team in the nation and the defending national champions, yet the Huskies went into Saturday's matchup with No. 4 Marquette coveting something the Golden Eagles won a year ago: a Big East championship.
Donovan Clingan had 17 points and 10 rebounds to help the Huskies to an 81-53 rout of Marquette and control of the conference race.
"We were just trying to prove who we are, and we're just trying to win," Clingan said.
Tristen Newton added 15 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists for the Huskies (24-2, 14-1), who have won 14 consecutive games. Cam Spencer and Hassan Diarra each added 14 points.
Kam Jones scored 15 points and Oso Ighodaro had 14 for Marquette (19-6, 10-4), which came into the game with an eight-game winning streak.
The Huskies now lead the second-place Golden Eagles in the Big East by three games in the loss column with five to play.
In other Top 25 men's games Saturday, Jordan Wright had 14 points including two free throws with five seconds left as LSU erased a 16-point second half deficit to beat No. 11 South Carolina 64-63. The Tigers (13-12, 5-7) trailed 41-25 after Zachary Davis' three-pointer with 16:58 to play. That's when LSU found its offensive flow. South Carolina (21-5, 9-4) had a final chance, but Jacobi Wright's three-pointer from the left corner bounced off the rim. ... L.J. Cryer scored a season-high 26 points, Jamal Shead had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 3 Houston beat Texas 82-61 for the Cougars' third straight win. ... Hunter Dickinson had 20 points and 16 rebounds, and No. 6 Kansas rallied to beat No. 25 Oklahoma. Johnny Furphy had 15 points, nine rebounds and three steals for the Jayhawks (20-6, 8-5). ... Armando Bacot had 25 points and 12 rebounds and No. 7 North Carolina led most of the way in a 96-81 victory against Virginia Tech. RJ Davis added 20 points, Cormac Ryan scored 16 and Harrison Ingram had 12 points and 17 rebounds for the Tar Heels (20-6, 12-3). ... Dalton Knecht and Zakai Zeigler scored 14 points apiece to lead No. 8 Tennessee to an 88-53 victory over Vanderbilt. Josiah-Jordan James had 13 points. ... Jared McCain set a Duke freshman record with eight three-pointers and matched a school freshman mark with 35 points as the No. 9 Blue Devils beat Florida State 76-67. ... Keshon Gilbert had 24 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 10 Iowa State past Texas Tech 82-74. Curtis Jones contributed 12 points for Iowa State (20-5, 9-3). Joe Toussaint led the Red Raiders (18-7, 7-5) with 16 points. ... Freshman Ja'Kobe Walter scored 23 points to lead six Baylor players with 10 or more points and the 12th-ranked Bears beat West Virginia 94-81. Jayden Nunn added 20 points, RayJ Dennis had 18 points and eight assist and Yves Missi scored 13 for Baylor (19-6, 8-4 ), which has won five of its last six. ... Antonio Reeves scored 22 points and No. 22 Kentucky led throughout to beat cold-shooting Auburn 70-59, ending the 13th-ranked Tigers' 16-game home winning streak. The Wildcats (18-7, 8-4) held Auburn to 30.9% shooting and responded to every challenge in the second half. ... Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 27 points and No. 14 Illinois beat Maryland 85-80 to earn its first road victory against the Terrapins since 2011. Jahmir Young had 28 points to lead Maryland. Marcus Domask had 19 points for the Illini (19-6, 10-4), putting him over 2,000 points for his career, including four seasons at Southern Illinois. ... Mark Sears had 23 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals and hot-shooting No. 15 Alabama beat Texas A&M 100-75. Rylan Griffen scored 17 for Alabama (18-7, 9-2). Tyrece Radford led Texas A&M (15-10, 6-6) with 22 points. ... DaRon Holmes II scored 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead No. 16 Dayton past Fordham 78-70. Dayton (21-4, 11-2), eyeing an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time in seven years, picked up its second win of the week after a setback at VCU on Feb. 9. ... Baylor Scheierman finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds and Ryan Kalkbrenner added 21 points as No. 17 Creighton rolled past Butler 79-57. ... Freshman Jamyron Keller scored 22 points in his first start to help Oklahoma State beat No. 19 BYU 93-83. Brandon Garrison added 21 points and Quion Williams had 15 for the Cowboys (11-14, 3-9). ... Tony Perkins' layup with 1.3 seconds left gave Iowa an 88-86 overtime win over No. 20 Wisconsin. Owen Freeman led Iowa (15-11, 7-8) with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Steven Crowl had 22 points to lead Wisconsin (17-9, 9-6). ... Reece Beekman scored 20 points and No. 21 Virginia overcame poor free-throw shooting to beat Wake Forest 49-47.