By Stephen Ur –
UConn and San Diego State faced off in the NCAA tournament East Region semifinal at TD Garden in Boston, MA on Thursday night. The Huskies and Aztecs were meeting in the tournament for the second consecutive season. The two teams met in the 2023 NCAA men’s basketball national championship with UConn coming out on top.
The Huskies dominated the first half of this game on paper as they opened up an 11-point lead at the 10:55 mark of the first half and went on a 7-0 scoring run two minutes prior to that. They also led 16:33 of the first half while San Diego State led for just 28 seconds. UConn also outscored the Aztecs 18-10 in the paint.
One factor that allowed San Diego State to keep it close through the first 20 minutes was that their bench outscored UConn’s 7-0 in the first half. They also forced five Huskies turnovers while only committing three of their own.
It was UConn who held a lead at halftime with the score 40-31 after the first 20 minutes. Graduate guard Cam Spencer led the Huskies with 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting from the floor and 2 of 3 from beyond the arc. He was the lone player to score in double figures for UConn in the first half.
For the Aztecs, it was Jaedon Lee who finished the first half as the lone player on his team to score in double figures. He finished with 15 points, shooting 7 of 10 from the floor.
The Huskies used a strong defense in the second half to hold Lee to just three points as they rolled to a 82-52 victory, the 13th Sweet 16 victory in school history.
“Obviously to hold an All-American caliber player like Jaedon to three points in the second half, I think we just — Donovan [Clingan] made it hard on him. Samson [Johnson] made it hard on him,” head coach Dan Hurley said after the game . “Guys who were helping off the right people on the perimeter, just showed them a lot more bodies and played much better one-on-one defense.
“[I think] everybody is very hungry. Obviously the team had great success last year, but it’s a different group,” Cam Spencer, who finished with a team-high 18 points in the victory, said postgame. “A lot of those returners came back wanting to go do it again and help the new guys experience a national championship. I think that is just a part of the UConn culture, and I’m happy to be at UConn, and happy to be a part of it.”
The Huskies will play the winner of the other East Region semifinal between Iowa State and Illinois. The game will also be held at TD Garden in Boston with tip-off time to be determined.
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