Clemson, Uconn into Elite Eight
Chase Hunter scored 18 points and converted a three-point play with 25.7 seconds remaining, and Clemson advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time in school history, beating Arizona 77-72 in a West Region semifinal on Thursday night.
PJ Hall added 17 points for the sixth-seeded Tigers (24-11), who advanced to face either top-seeded North Carolina or No. 4 seed Alabama.
Clemson last reached the final eight in 1980, when there were 48 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Coach Brad Brownell was making his second appearance in the second weekend of March Madness in his 14 seasons with the Tigers.
“We’ve battled a lot of things. This is a great moment for Clemson basketball,” Brownell said.
Jaden Bradley scored 18 points, Oumar Ballo had 15 and Caleb Love 13 for second-seeded Arizona (27-9), which had a horrific shooting night, going 5 of 28 (17.9%) from 3-point range. Love missed all nine of his attempts beyond the arc as the Wildcats failed to reach the Elite Eight for the 12th time overall and first time since 2015.
Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd was ousted in the Sweet 16 for the second time in his three seasons.
After Bradley’s 3-pointer got Arizona within 72-70, Hunter put it out of reach when he drove for a layup while being fouled by Bradley. Hunter’s free throw made it a five-point game.
“I just wanted to make a play,” Hunter said. “At the end of the day, I wanted to get to the basket, wanted to get an and-one, wanted to make something happen, and that’s what I did.”
The Wildcats had the edge in the paint and in transition, but the Tigers were 29 of 59 from the field (49.2%). Ian Schieffelin finished with 14 points and Hunter’s brother, Dillon, made a layup for the final margin, his only basket of the game.
Clemson led 39-31 at halftime. The Tigers were still up by eight two minutes into the second half before the Wildcats went on a quick 8-0 run. Love’s three-point play tied it at 43-all with 16:43 remaining.
Two minutes later, a driving layup by Love gave Arizona its only lead, 4645. But the Wildcats’ edge lasted only 20 seconds as Jack Clark hit a 3-pointer to put Clemson back on top.
It was tied at 56-all midway through the second half before Clemson responded with a 9-2 run, including a layup by Hall and a 3-pointer by Schieffelin.
Clemson scored the first four points and jumped out to a 16-6 lead less than nine minutes in on RJ Godfrey’s turnaround jumper. The Tigers started 7 of 13 from the field while Arizona was 2 of 13.
Hall’s layup gave Clemson a 29-16 advantage — its largest lead of the game — with 6:43 remaining in the first half.
UCONN 82, SAN DIEGO ST. 52
Stephon Castle had 16 points and 11 rebounds for top-seeded Uconn and the defending NCAA champion advanced to the Elite Eight with another double-digit victory, beating San Diego State in a rematch of last year’s title game.
Cam Spencer scored 18 points and Tristen Newton added 17 points and seven rebounds for the Huskies (34-3), who will play the winner of the other East Region semifinal between No. 2 Iowa State and No. 3 Illinois for a spot in the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona.
A year after cruising to their fifth national championship — winning their six NCAA Tournament games by an average of almost 20 points — the Huskies followed up blowouts last weekend with their ninth straight double-digit March Madness victory.
Backed by a TD Garden that was virtually a Uconn home crowd — Boston is about 90 miles from its Storrs, Connecticut, campus — the Huskies made it a double-digit lead early in the second half, 20 with about seven minutes left and 30 in the final minutes, after the teams sent in their benches. Uconn coach Dan Hurley’s son Andrew even got into the game with 1:44 left, drawing a celebratory cheer.
Seven-footer Donovan Clingan, who played just 23 minutes after getting into foul trouble, had eight points and eight rebounds.
Jaedon Ledee scored 15 of his 18 points in the first half for fifth-seeded San Diego State, which followed up the only Final Four appearance in school history with another Sweet 16 run.
But for the second straight year, the Aztecs (26-11) ran into Uconn, which is now three victories away from becoming the first team to repeat as NCAA champions since Florida in 2006 and ‘07.
Uconn took its first 10-point lead before the midpoint of a first half in which both teams went cold about 10 minutes in. After opening a 27-16 lead with 11 minutes left, Uconn shot 6 for 28 to finish the half — and still took a ninepoint lead into the break.
The Huskies went up by double digits for good in the opening minutes of the second half when Newton — thanks to an offensive rebound and assist from Clingan — hit a 3-pointer to make it 45-33. Up 17 with eight minutes left, Uconn scored the next nine points to pull away.