NEW YORK — Liam McNeeley stepped out onto the floor at Madison Square Garden, where the lights are always brighter, the roar always louder, the spotlight a little more intense. On Saturday night, many of the 19,000 were fueled with the spirit(s) of SantaCon NYC as well as a marquee matchup, so things were even a little more intense than usual.

A heady experience for a Texas teenager, but the magnitude of the environment or the moment never seems to get into McNeeley’s head. This was no different. This milieu only served to magnify just who and what Dan Hurley is turning loose on the college basketball world.

“I’d never played in ‘The Mecca’ before,” McNeeley said, after scoring 26 Saturday in UConn’s 77-71 victory over No. 8 Gonzaga, in what felt like a defining game. “But it was a really great first experience.”

The one-and-done era has been giving way, via the portal, NIL and the extra COVID year, to more experienced teams around the country. Stephon Castle was asked to be part of such a team, and by the end of his freshman year the Huskies were champs and he was clearly an NBA player, a man in a man’s game. McNeeley, 11 games into his college career with Big East battles about to start, is more frequently asked to be the man for this year’s Huskies.

“I still feel like a freshman,” McNeeley said, “but I’m never going to let age or class of school define how I’m going to play. I’m still going to play my game.”

Hurley frequently called Castle the “anti-five star” or the “anti-one-and-done” because of his humble, unselfish attitude. In that mold, McNeeley, 19, a potential lottery pick, scored only seven in a win at Texas last Sunday, but left his mark on the game, and his coach.

“No, no, he’s the same way,” Hurley was saying, in hushed tones as he headed back for the locker room. “His approach to the Texas game, I still can’t get over how he handled going back home, taking only four shots, and he made every winning play, every extra pass, just gutting out a game and doing it in a homecoming game were many freshmen five-stars would be very immature about it. Now, this game was a huge confidence builder.”

If McNeely, 6 feet 7, who can do a little of everything — 13.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists per game, 42.9 percent shooting — and a lot of a lot of things, needs his confidence built, he doesn’t show it. He was unafraid to make a bold statement about his teammates needing more swagger when they came back from Hawaii shocked and bruised by three losses; unafraid to take a big shot with a two-time national champs on the floor; unafraid to risk a shot with off-the-charts degree of difficulty, like the falling-backwards, over-the-back, flip-off-the-glass-with-two-defenders-on-him job with 3:26 left, as UConn was clinging to a four-point lead. This was the kind of shot that would’ve made Patrick Ewing ask, “do you practice that shot?” But it can also message an opponent, let ’em know it’s just not their night.

“I don’t know how that one went in,” McNeeley said. “I was pretty out-of-control, that was a lucky one. That’s Madison Square Garden right there. The aura this place has, the aura the crowd brought.”

This was the full-on UConn-Garden experience for all. UConn used its opportunity to wipe away that Maui nightmare with a third straight quality win, following Baylor at Gampel Dec. 4 and Texas on the road. Hurley and the staff coached a masterpiece. The Huskies jumped out to a 13-2 lead before Samson Johnson’s night was ended by a concussion and Gonzaga surged back. The Bulldogs grabbed the lead for brief moments, but never by more than a point. UConn (5 for 24) just couldn’t make the open 3-point shots that could have made it easy.

Because with Castle, Donovan Clingan, Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer all gone to the NBA, it is not like the last two seasons. Nothing will come easy for the Huskies; they’ll need a different brand of grit this year. It’s on McNeeley’s shoulders to provide a little bit of each of the qualities all four took with them. His reputation, especially from his time at Montverde with Cooper Flagg, preceded him to UConn and into The Garden, where McNeeley rated his own pronunciation from PA announcer Mike Walczewski. “Mc-Neeeeee-leeee.”

It got a lot of play. McNeeley had the 26 points, plus eight rebounds and four assists. UConn won its 10th in a row at MSG, and will be back for more in March and, imagine, with a more seasoned Liam McNeeley.

“It means everything to him, just to have that confidence and that swagger and really propel us to a win tonight,” Karaban said. “He was special out there. To do it as a freshman, too, it’s unbelievable. He just continuing to prove himself and who he is as a player. To have a game like this going into Big East play? That’s all you really need.”

There was only one moment of freshman naivete. In a video for the scoreboard, McNeeley said what he wanted most to do in the city was try all the top pizzerias until he found the best one, pandering to New Yorkers who cling to the belief they have better pizza than New Haven. Needs to be conversation with the kid on this.

But from start to finish, SantaCon in The City was Liam McNeeley’s coming out party, an early Times Square ball drop exclusively staged by a teenager from Texas. At one point, McNeeley swaggered across the court, motioning for UConn fans to get louder. UConn at The Garden: he gets it. And he crushed it.

“He was born to replace Cam Spencer,” Hurley said, offering about a large a compliment as possible. … “And I don’t think Liam has shot the ball nearly as well as he is going to. He’s not a volume scorer. He’s played winning basketball, smart, tough basketball. His performance tonight should shoot him to the top of any of these lists I see of top freshmen in the country.”

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