Next Stop, Sweet 16

The Story: Donovan Clingan dominated the paint and top-seed UConn dominated the competition as the Huskies rolled into the Sweet 16 with an impressive 75-58 win over No. seed Northwestern at Barclays Center last night.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Clingan was dominant with 14 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks as the Huskies annihilated Northwestern in the paint. UConn (33-3) jumped out to a quick lead and never trailed as it advanced to the Sweet 16 to take on No. 5 seed San Diego State on Thursday night in Boston at 7:39 p.m.

• Tristen Newton added 20 points and 10 assists for the Huskies, who put the game away in the first 20 minutes by blitzing the Wildcats to a 40-18 halftime lead. The final 20 minutes were UConn doing just enough to keep Northwestern at a distance..

• Stephon Castle showcased what’s going to make him one of the better perimeter defenders in the NBA as he smothered Northwestern guard Boo Buie. The All-Big Ten performer had a nightmarish game by shooting 2-for-15.

• UConn won its eighth straight NCAA Tournament game by double digits. It’s the first time that’s been done by anyone.

INSIDE DOMINATION: UConn can play multiple ways and styles, but when the Huskies can do what they did inside against Northwestern, they’re unbeatable. UConn dominated with 52 points in the paint.

• The Huskies made 13 of 14 layups and were a perfect 8-for-8 on dunk attempts, all despite shooting a terrible 3-for-22 on 3-pointers.

• The Huskies added 18 fast-break points and 20 assists on 29 baskets and shot 26-for-32 (81.3 percent) from 2-point range.

WHAT DID DAN HURLEY SAY? “Just obviously impressed with the performance. Just really attacked them in the paint. Obviously, the injuries that they have sustained during the year changed the total complexion of that team.”

CINDERELLA CANCELED: UConn goes to the Sweet 16 looking every bit like the best team in the tournament. The top eight teams (all the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds) advanced to the second weekend. The lack of upsets took the luster of the tournament away, but the caliber of teams left should make for great games.

• According to KenPom, 13 of the top 16 teams made the Sweet 16. That sets up for two titanic regional rounds.

• The only seeds that are below the top four are No. 5 San Diego State, No. 6 Clemson and No. 11 N.C. State. There’s not a single team from a mid-major conference left. While the Mountain West (San Diego State) and WCC (Gonzaga) aren’t exactly power conferences, they regularly provide at-large NCAA Tournament bids. No one-bid conference champion is left.

• The ACC has had a strong showing with four teams remaining in the tournament, making up for a dreadful performance from Virginia in the First Four.

• The snubbed Big East? All three teams advanced to Sweet 16 with No. 2 seed Marquette and No. 3 seed Creighton surviving.

UP NEXT: A rematch of last year’s national title game against San Diego State. The game will take place in Boston and the Huskies will be heavily favored.

— John Silver

Dynamic Fair, Syracuse Up Next

The Story: The No. 3 seed UConn women easily took care of No. 14 seed Jackson State on Saturday afternoon, and their 86-64 win on Geno Auriemma‘s 70th birthday has them in line for a showdown with No. 6 seed Syracuse tonight in the final game of the season at Gampel Pavilion (6 p.m., ESPN).

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Paige Bueckers had 28 points and 11 rebounds, Ashlynn Shade had a season-high 26 points, and Aaliyah Edwards, mask and all, had 20 points and 10 rebounds as the Huskies cruised to a win that was more one-sided than the score indicates.

• The Huskies (30-5) led 22-8 after the first quarter and 49-28 at halftime, and they were up 28 points in the fourth quarter. They had a 45-36 edge in rebounding and had 23 assists on 34 baskets

WHAT DID GENO SAY? “I’m thrilled that this one’s out of the way and it’s over with. … Playing a team like Jackson State, they compete really, really, really, really hard, and they seem to get energized even more. The more you score, the more they want to keep playing, and they never feel like, ‘We’re out of it and we should just pack it in.’ I was really impressed with them. I think they’re exceptionally well-coached ”

SYRACUSE NEXT: After a 74-69 win over No. 11 seed Arizona that was marred by constant reviews in the closing minutes, Syracuse will get its 2016 national championship game rematch when the teams collide tonight at Gampel Pavilion.

• The biggest question will be the health of Syracuse’s dynamic guard, Dyaisha Fair, who had to be helped off the court at the end of the third quarter on Saturday with some type of leg injury. Fair returned in the fourth quarter and scored her team’s final 13 points to finish with 32 points, and she said after the game that she “was just hoping it wasn’t anything serious.”

• Fair is averaging 22.3 points per game for the Orange (24-7), good for eighth in Division I, and will move past Missouri State’s Jackie Stiles and into fourth place in the Division I career scoring list if she has 11 points against the Huskies tonight.

• Aside from Fair, junior guard Georgia Woolley, from Australia, is scoring 13.7 points per game, while freshman forward Alyssa Latham is averaging a team-high seven rebounds per game to go with 8.7 points per game.

• Syracuse isn’t the best shooting team as it makes just 41.8 percent of its shots, but it’s elite on the offensive boards with 16.3 rebounds per game. And with a player like Fair, who attempts nearly 19 shots a game, it’s understandable that Syracuse ranks last in the ACC with 12.5 assists per game.

WHAT ELSE DID GENO SAY? “You know [Fair] is going to score a lot of points. That’s what she does. And she’s really good at it. And I don’t know that you’re going to be able to go, ‘Hey, make sure she gets 10 tonight.’ I mean, it might be, like, ‘Hey, can we keep her under 20?’ That would be a great accomplishment. So, sometimes, one player can beat you. One player can be that dominant. I think she is that dominant. And I don’t think one player on our team’s going to be able to [defend her] by herself.”

UP NEXT: Should the Huskies get by No. 6 seed Syracuse, they’ll face No. 7 Duke later this week in Portland, Oregon, in the Sweet 16. Duke overcame a 16-point deficit to beat No. 2 Ohio State 75-63 yesterday afternoon, preventing the much-anticipated matchup between the Huskies and the Buckeyes, who beat them in the Sweet 16 a year ago. (And, elsewhere, No. 5 Baylor beat No. 4 Virginia Tech 75-72 last night.)

— Zac Boyer

Morning Reads

• Stephen Quigley pitched a five-hitter as the baseball team beat Rutgers 5-1 yesterday in New Jersey to avoid being swept in the three-game series.

• Although the softball team took the first two games of its series against Butler, it lost 2-1 to Butler yesterday to end its 13-game winning streak.

• Kate Shaffer scored nine goals, but they weren’t nearly enough as the women’s lacrosse team lost 18-9 at No. 13 Denver in its Big East opener on Saturday.

• George Springer said “there’s been some good, there’s been some bad, there’s been some ugly” halfway through his six-year deal with the Blue Jays. Meanwhile, Matt Barnes has made the Nationals’ opening-day roster and will compete for a late-inning role out of the bullpen.

Top photo: Donovan Clingan dunks in the Huskies’ game against Northern Arizona. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)