Defending champs bury Northwestern
NEW YORK — Donovan Clingan, Tristen Newton and top overall seed UConn overwhelmed an undermanned Northwestern team 75-58 on Sunday night to sail into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Newton had 20 points and 10 assists, and Clingan finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds and 8 blocks. The Huskies (33-3) led wire-to-wire and became the first defending national champions to reach the regional semifinals since Duke in 2016.
Connecticut built a 30-point cushion with 13:27 left and matched a program record for wins set by the 2013-14 national title squad. It will play Thursday night in the East Regional semifinals.
Undersized and overmatched, Boo Buie and the ninth-seeded Wildcats (22-12) were buried under a dizzying display of dunks, blocks, alley-oops and layups.
They made a late push that prompted Huskies Coach Dan Hurley to call a timeout with 5:26 remaining, but Northwestern never got the margin under 16. Brooks Barnhizer scored all 18 of his points in the second half for Northwestern, which has advanced a round in each of its three NCAA Tournament appearances (all since 2017). But the Big Ten program has never reached the Sweet 16.
UConn’s victory put all three Big East teams that made the NCAA Tournament in the regional semifinals, following hard-fought wins by Creighton and Marquette in the second round against Pac-12 programs.
The streaking Huskies had no such trouble, winning their eighth consecutive NCAA Tournament game by double digits. The record is nine, set by Michigan State from 2000-01.
Minus two injured starters, junior guard Ty Berry and 7-foot senior center Matthew Nicholson, the Wildcats had no answer for the 7-2 Clingan. He had a double-double less than 16 minutes into the game and blocked consecutive shots in a span of four seconds during one first-half sequence.
Seeking its sixth national title, all in the past quarter-century, UConn rolled into the Sweet 16 for the 19th time. It was the second blowout of the night in Brooklyn, following Duke’s 93-55 dismantling of James Madison in the South Region.
After throttling No. 16 seed Stetson 91-52 in the first round Friday, the Huskies have now won 39 of their last 42 games dating to last season’s NCAA Tournament. The initial meeting between the schools was a mismatch from the start. UConn scored the first seven points and opened an 18-4 bulge eight minutes into the game.
By then, the Huskies had already outscored Northwestern 16-2 in the paint and 8-0 on fast breaks as chants of “U-C-ON-N, UConn! UConn! UConn!” echoed throughout Barclays Center.
SAN DIEGO STATE 85, YALE 57
SPOKANE, Wash. — Jaedon LeDee had 26 points and nine rebounds, Darrion Trammell added 18 points and fifth-seeded San Diego State used a fast start to overwhelm 13th-seeded Yale.
The Aztecs scored the first 10 points of the game, led by 24 at halftime and removed any chance of another potential March Madness, bracket-busting upset.
San Diego State (26-10) earned a rematch with No. 1 seed and defending national champion UConn on Thursday in Boston in the Sweet 16. The Huskies beat the Aztecs 76-59 last April in Houston, denying San Diego State a chance at its first title.
The Aztecs will be playing in the Sweet 16 in consecutive years for the first time in school history. LeDee was again the star for the Aztecs after he scored 32 points in the first-round win over Alabama-Birmingham. He made 9 of 12 shots, including a pair of three-pointers, and in two tournament games is 20-for-30 shooting.
But some of the outside shooting that was absent in the tourney opener returned and San Diego State hit a season-high 13 three-pointers. Trammell had just four points and took four shots against UAB, but hit four three-pointers against Yale.
Bez Mbeng led Yale with 12 points and Matt Knowling added 11. But even with borrowing the University of Idaho band for a second time, there was no magical late comeback after the Bulldogs (23-10) rallied from down 10 in the final 7½ minutes to top No. 4 seed Auburn in the opener.