‘A great moment’ for Clemson

Tigers were last in Elite 8 in ’80

Chase Hunter scored 18 points and converted a threepoint 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 (2411), who advanced to face 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 for second-seeded Arizona (27-9), which had a horrific shooting night, going 5 of 28 from 3-point range.

East Region

Connecticut 82, San Diego

State 52: Stephon Castle had 16 points and 11 rebounds for top-seeded UConn (34-3) and the defending NCAA champion advanced to the Elite Eight in Boston with another double- digit victory, beating San Diego State (2611) in a rematch of last year’s title game.

Cam Spencer scored 18 points for the Huskies, who play Illinois for a spot in the Final Four in Glendale, Ariz. Jaedon LeDee scored 15 of his 18 points in the first half for fifth-seeded San Diego State. Backed by a virtual home crowd at TD Garden — Boston is about 90 miles from their Storrs, Conn., campus — the Huskies made it a double-digit lead early in the second half.

“We tried to make it like ‘Storrs North,’” Castle said. “They showed out for us, and it was definitely electric in there tonight.”

Illinois 72, Iowa State 69: Terrrance Shannon’s tip-steal and ensuing dunk was enough cushion to send thirdseeded Illinois (29-8) to the Elite Eight and hold off second-seeded Iowa State (298).