UConn Plows Over San Diego State
The Story: Top seed UConn dismantled No. 5 seed San Diego State 82-52 before a partisan crowd in Boston last night as it moved one game away from the Final Four.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: This was no contest. The Huskies (34-3) were paced by 18 points from Cam Spencer, 17 points from Tristen Newton and a stellar 16 points from Stephon Castle to outclass the Aztecs and advance to the Elite Eight tomorrow night against No. 3 Illinois, which beat No.2 Iowa State 72-69.
• The Huskies didn’t use their offense to knock out the Aztecs. Rather, they decided to beat San Diego State at its own game by hammering it on the boards and controlling the game with a 50-29 rebounding advantage that included 21 offensive rebounds.
• The Huskies held a 38-18 advantage in points in the paint and held offensively challenged San Diego State to 36 percent shooting.
• UConn advances to the Elite Eight for the 13th time and has the chance to make its seventh Final Four appearance. It can also reach the national semifinals in consecutive years for the first time.
CASTLE STARS: Spencer was his terrific self, but it was Castle who had a wow game. The freshman guard took only eight shots and had 11 rebounds while playing lockdown perimeter defense.
• This two-way ability has NBA scouts enamored by the freshman from Georgia who looks as comfortable as ever in the starting lineup.
UCONN DOMINATION: The Huskies have won nine straight NCAA Tournament games by 13 points or more, and they’re winning them by an average of 22.3 points per game. UConn looks even better so far than it did in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
• UConn trailed in the opening minutes against San Diego State and has trailed for a total of 28 seconds in three NCAA Tournament games. UConn has won them by an average of 28 points per game — a dominating performance.
WHAT DID DAN HURLEY SAY? “I think the group, we have killer instincts. We play every possession with great desperation. We have NBA-level players that are incredibly well-prepared by Luke Murray and Kimani Young, two of the best coaches in the country, assistant head coaches, two of the best that do it. … Obviously, we’re very comfortable in tournament play. We’re hard to prepare for.”
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: The Huskies rebounded from a poor night from 3-point range in the second round to knock down 10 of 26 3-pointers last night. UConn also continues to operate at elite efficiency with 17 assists on 30 baskets.
• UConn’s passing in the NCAA Tournament remains elite with 59 assists on 96 baskets.
— John Silver
Facing the Pressure in Portland
The Story: No. 3 seed UConn is making its 30th consecutive appearance in the Sweet 16, and it will attempt to put some of the bugaboos of last season in the rear view mirror tomorrow when it takes on No. 7 seed Duke in Portland, Oregon (8 p.m., ESPN).
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The bracket unveiling on Selection Sunday seemed to put UConn in line for a clash with No. 2 seed Ohio State, which meant the Huskies could have gotten their revenge against the team that beat them at this stage a year ago. Instead, the Blue Devils shocked the Buckeyes last weekend with a 75-63 win.
• This will be the 17th meeting between UConn and Duke, which memorably knocked the Huskies out of the NCAA Tournament in overtime in the Elite Eight in 2006 — in Bridgeport, no less. Coincidentally, the last time the teams faced off was on Nov. 25, 2022, a 78-50 victory for the Huskies as part of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament in Portland.
• Could this weekend mark the final games for Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Muhl in a UConn uniform? The two legends (yeah, we went there) will be leaving to begin pro careers after the season ends, meaning there’s an extra bit of emotional tinge for a duo that surely wants to go out on top.
PAIGE BUCKETS: The Huskies have gotten the best version of Paige Bueckers in their two NCAA Tournament games as the redshirt junior guard is averaging 30 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.5 rebounds while shooting 56.8 percent.
• Bueckers has been vocal about what the NCAA Tournament means to her after missing all of last season with a torn ACL: “I just remember last year after the Baylor game, it was a second-round game. I just went to my car and I was so emotional because these high-stakes games, these games that mean everything, I miss it so much. I just told myself before the Big East Tournament, before this tournament, just to embrace it and have fun.”
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “[Paige is] playing for her teammates and she plays for the love of the game. I think she would love nothing better than to have a full team of contributors so she can just have fun playing and not have to carry all that, but that’s the hand that she’s playing right now. As I said, I have so much respect for her and what she’s doing. I can’t say enough things about her. Really, I can’t. There’s just too many things that she does.”
ABOUT DUKE: The Blue Devils (22-11), led by Kara Lawson, were also a No. 7 seed in the ACC Tournament and lost in the quarterfinals to No. 2 seed N.C. State. They’ve had a topsy-turvy year with an early-season home loss to Davidson followed by a three-point overtime loss at Stanford three days later, but they held their own in a competitive conference by going 11-7.
• Watch out for junior guard Reigan Richardson, who averaged 11.5 points per game during the regular season but has scored 26.5 points per game in Duke’s two NCAA Tournament wins. She had 28 points against Ohio State, including 16 in the second half.
• Sophomore point guard Taina Mair, a Boston College transfer, is averaging 9.9 points and 3.7 assists per game, while freshman guard Oluchi Okananwa enters averaging 9.6 points and a team-high 6.2 rebounds a game off the bench.
• The Blue Devils are set up for success, with three of their five starters underclassmen and nine of their 13 players in their first two years. Notable exceptions include Richardson and Kennedy Brown, the 6-foot-6 redshirt senior who played her first three seasons at Oregon State.
• Duke is excellent defensively as its 58 points allowed per game are tops in the ACC and rank seventh among Power 5 plus Big East teams. It’s holding opponents to 36.9 percent shooting, good for ninth among those teams, and keeping opponents off the boards with just 31.8 rebounds allowed per game.
UP NEXT: Should UConn win and return to the Elite Eight, it’ll face No. 1 seed USC or No. 5 seed Baylor on Monday night with a shot at the Final Four on the line.
— Zac Boyer
Morning Reads
• George Springer opened his season with a home run yesterday in the Blue Jays’ 8-2 victory over the Rays, while Nick Ahmed started at shortstop after winning a position battle in spring training and went 2-for-3 with two RBI in a 6-4 loss to the Padres.
Top photo: UConn’s Cam Spencer shoots over Providence’s Rafael Castro in a game at Gampel Pavilion. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
