The Huskies are back in the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season.
UConn men’s basketball dominated the boards and secured a huge 82-52 victory over 5-seed San Diego State at TD Garden in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen on Thursday. It was the largest margin of victory in the Sweet Sixteen since 2017.
The 1-seed Huskies were plus-21 on the boards and had 21 offensive rebounds, while they held the Aztecs to 21-for-58 shooting from the field. Cam Spencer led the way with 18 points and was joined in double-figures by Tristen Newton (17 points), Stephon Castle (16 points), who had a double-double with 11 rebounds and Hassan Diarra (10 points).
It took UConn 80:23 of NCAA Tournament game time to trail as Jaedon LeDee opened the scoring with a jumper. While Donovan Clingan muscled his way to a bucket on the Huskies’ first possession, San Diego State tried to show that this wouldn’t be another runaway UConn victory, as the teams spent just two possessions in the first half separated by 10 points or more.
Both squads aren’t known for their pace, as the Huskies are No. 317 in tempo, according to KenPom, while the Aztecs aren’t far behind, at No. 267. However, each team was getting up and down the court early on with plenty of fastbreak opportunities, even after made shots, though they combined for just 10 fastbreak points.
It was to UConn’s advantage through the first 10 minutes, as it started 11-for-16 from the field and secured the first double-digit advantage of the evening on the 11th make, which was a Spencer lay-in. From there, the Huskies went ice-cold, shooting just 4-for-22 from the field the rest of the half. Two of those shots came off Spencer’s hand, including a 3-pointer to push the halftime advantage to nine. The Rutgers transfer had 16 points and was 6-for-9 from the field in the first 20 minutes.
Despite Mr. Hyde replacing Dr. Jekyll for for a 10-minute stretch to close the half, UConn kept San Diego State at arm’s length. Once the Huskies secured a lead of more than one possession 6:25 into the contest, the Aztecs were unable to get closer than four points.
LeDee got his, scoring 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting, but the rest of the team was unable to solve UConn’s swarming, aggressive defense, as it was 6-for-23 (26.0 percent).
The lead could have been greater, as the Huskies had 12 offensive boards in the first half, but turned those longer possessions into just four second-chance points.
There would be no such squandered opportunities in the second half. UConn continued to excel defensively, as the Aztecs started just 3-for-10 from the field and went more than five minutes between field goal makes in the early portion of the half. Huskies had five second-chance points in the first eight minutes and continued to dominate the boards, while they shot the ball more consistently. Slowly but surely, UConn inched its nine-point halftime lead out to as wide as 18 points over the first nine minutes of the half.
Spencer was quiet in the second half, not scoring until a pair of made free-throws midway through the proceedings, but instead, Castle (11 points in the second half) and Hassan Diarra (10 points) led the way, with big buckets as the Huskies secured bigger and bigger leads throughout the half.
UConn (34-3) will take on 3-seed Illinois at 6:09 p.m. ET on Saturday in the East Region final for a shot to return to the Final Four. The game will be broadcast on TBS and TruTV.