ELITE STATUS
UConn throttles Arkansas to advance to Regional Final
LAS VEGAS — Jordan Hawkins, Adama Sanogo and Andre Jackson Jr. sat at the postgame podium on Thursday evening, basking in the glow of the UConn men’s basketball team’s 88-65 Sweet 16 thumping of Arkansas.
Hawkins led all scorers with 24 points, despite what’s become his typical early shooting struggles. Sanogo dominated inside once again, with a relatively pedestrian (by his standards) 18 points and eight rebounds. Jackson was Jackson, counting numerous no-look, brilliant passes among his seven assists while also grabbing eight rebounds and nailing a 3-pointer.
“It’s great to be a part of this,” the soft-spoken Hawkins said.
It was a stark difference from almost exactly a year earlier, when those same three players gathered in coach Dan Hurley’s office, shortly after the Huskies’ second-straight, first-round NCAA Tournament ouster.
“We sat together and said, ‘This is where we’re going to be,’ ” Hurley recalled. “We’re exactly where we thought we would be. And, obviously, we’re thrilled to play one more to go to the Final Four.”
Fourth-seeded UConn (28-8) will face either second-seeded UCLA or No. 5 seed Gonzaga on Saturday in the West Regional finals for a berth in the program’s sixth Final Four. What a difference a year makes. “We were in coach’s office, and he really just told us, ‘Things are going to change now,’ ” Jackson recalled. “Really, from that moment on, from that day on, we just really held each other to a higher standard and told each other we’re going to push for a national championship. We’re going to push for that type of standard ev
ery day in practice and we’re going to hold each other to that.”
The Huskies advanced to the Elite Eight for the 12th time in program history and first since 2014 with a clinical, wire-to-wire win over eight-seeded Arkansas. They shot a blistering 57% from the floor, outrebounded the Hogs 43-31 and were simply never really threatened.
Alex Karaban added 11 points and Nahiem Alleyne 10 in UConn’s lethal, well-balanced attack.
UConn is now 12-6 overall in the Sweet 16 and has now won six straight regional semifinal games, dating back to 2004.
The Huskies completely dominated the opening half, shooting 61% from the floor, hitting all eight of their free throws and dominating the boards to the tune of an eye-popping 22-9 advantage.
Hawkins missed all four of his 3-point attempts, but still led UConn in scoring at the break with 10 points, taking the ball to the rim with authority. Sanogo dominated inside with eight points and six rebounds and Jackson had seven points to go with a few beautiful assists.
UConn led 46-29 at halftime and extended that to as much as 29 (62-33). The Razorbacks had one glimmer of hope in the latter half when they went on a 10-0 run, fueled by their fullcourt press and a Jackson technical, to get within 19.
But Hawkins and Allenye quickly countered with 3-pointers, and UConn was off and running to victory.
The Razorbacks (22-14) were hurt when Devo Davis, the Razorbacks’ starting junior guard, picked up his second foul less than two minutes into the game.
On this day, it hardly mattered.
“We know how good we are,” freshman center Donovan Clingan said. “We’ve just got to play like that every single game, stick to our identity and play as a team. We have no weak links out there. Everybody’s got to play their best for a full 40 minutes.”
“We played,” Hurley said, “pretty much exactly to our team identity.”
Hawkins remembered that meeting in Hurley’s office a year ago.
“We knew we just wanted to be in a different position than we were last year.,” he said. “We knew we had the guys to do it. Coach told us they were going to build guys around us that could build a championship team, and that’s exactly what we did. They were going to push us hard all summer, all offseason.”
And here are the Huskies, on the precipice of the latest trip to the Final Four in the program’s illustrious history.
What a difference a year makes.
RIM RATTLINGS
• In the house: Jim Calhoun, Bill Murray, Danny Ainge, Khalid El-Amin, Charlie Villanueva, Big East commissioner Val Ackerman and Hurley’s father, Bob Sr., and older brother, Bobby, the current head coach at Arizona State.
• The Huskies are now 4-1 all-time against Arkansas. They are now 3-0 against the SEC this season, with all three wins coming by double digits.