Huskies lead wire to wire in blowout
LAS VEGAS — Forget the casinos, the Uconn men’s basketball team won big at T-mobile Arena and cashed its ticket to the Elite Eight with an 88-65 win over eighth-seeded Arkansas in the West Regional Semifinal Thursday night.
It will be the 12th Elite Eight appearance for the Huskies, who will take on No. 3 Gonzaga on Saturday at 8:49 p.m. for a chance to get back to the Final Four.
Jordan hawkins caught fire in the second half for the third straight game and finished with a game-high 24 points, while Adama Sanogo put together a steady 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. alex kara ban, in one of the best all-around games of his career, didn’ t miss a shot on his way to 11 points (5-of-5 from the field) and seven rebounds.
Making things happen on both ends of the court, Andre Jackson finished with seven points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals. Nahiem Alleyne added 10 points off the bench and Tristen Newton dished seven assists and grabbed six rebounds.
“I thought we just played pretty much exactly to our team identity,” Uconn head coach Dan Hurley said. “We played elite defense, offensively the 22 assists, the inside, the outside, the rebounding dominance . ... We’re thrilled to play one more to go to the Final Four.”
On the Vegas strip, the entertainment began right after the opening tip.
Uconn started the game shooting 10-of-16 through the first 10 minutes with a trio of 3-pointers, but began to pull away when head coach Dan Hurley brought in Donovan Clingan off the bench. The 7-foot-2 freshman center stood near the perimeter on offense and set a high screen for point guard Newton, who pulled up from a foot beyond the arc and got his first shot to fall.
On Arkansas’ ensuing possession, Karaban stole the ball from Anthony Black in the paint, fired a football pass down the court to Jackson at the other end, who then lobbed up a pass to Clingan for a slam.
“We knew we had to come out real fast on them. They’re a really physical team, but we had to come out with the first punch,” Hawkins said. “That’s how you gotta come out with teams like that and that’s what we did. We jumped out to an early lead, and just continued playing physical, crashing the glass.”
The Razorbacks scored four in a row on a pair of midrange jumpers, but Newton was feeling it. The junior used a quick pass backand-forth with Alleyne at the top of the key, then pulled up from the March Madness logo at center court — nothing but net. Clingan dunked again, Joey Calcaterra hit a 3-pointer off the bench and Uconn rode an unselfish 14-0 run over four minutes to a 34-17 lead at the 7:42 mark.