Clemson reaches the Elite Eight for the first time since 1980
LOS ANGELES: 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 (FRIDAY IN MANILA).
PJ Hall added 17 points for the sixth-seeded Tigers (24-11), who advanced to face either topseeded 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 (279), which had a horrific shooting night, going 5 of 28 (17.9 percent) 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. At the end of the day, I wanted to get to the basket, wanted to get an and-1, wanted to make something happen, and that’s what I did.”
UConn advances
In Boston, Stephon Castle had 16 points and 11 rebounds for topseeded UConn and the defending NCAA champion advanced to the Elite Eight with another doubledigit victory, beating San Diego State 82-52 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.
Duke was just getting started with coach Mike Krzyzewski and wasn’t in the NCAA field when Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler took the Cougars to the first of those consecutive Final Fours in 1982. The following year, Houston lost to coach Jim Valvano’s Wolfpack in a memorable championship game. The Cougars made the title game again in 1984, the year of Coach K’s first NCAA tourney with the Blue Devils.
Since then, there have since been only two NCAA tournaments played without Duke, which has five national championships. Second-year Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer won a title as a player in 2010, and was an assistant coach for their most recent in 2015.