There was more than 15 minutes remaining. A 3 by Hawkins, followed by his making three consecutive free throws because he was fouled on another attempt, made it 62-33 and it was all over. Arkansas coach Eric Musselman spent a lot of time with his hands on his hips, seemingly perplexed. UConn shot 57.4 percent and had 22 assists. Alex Karaban was 5-for-5 and had 11 points, one of nine players to score. He had 18 points, making 9 of 11 shots, and is now 33-for-44 in the tournament. “I could see in practice, this guy was going to go off,” Sanogo said. Hawkins, whose first-half struggles had been particularly glaring, had 24 points, 10 before halftime. The Huskies had gotten off to slow starts against Iona and St. And they've been better with each passing game. UConn, despite what it went through upon arrival, hasn’t looked this ready for a task in years. We’ve done a really good job during all the games.” Coming in, we just had to worry about the little details that would help us win. That really hurt us because we knew we had them, we knew we had that. “We had a devastating loss in the Big East Tournament to Marquette. “I just feel like this group, I’ll be honest, had a look about us before we even got to this tournament,” senior guard Nahiem Alleyne said. UConn has planned and executed at an elite level and three opponents have been cast aside as if they were playing a different sport in the decisive moments, which came immediately on Thursday. Remember when it was fair to wonder if Dan Hurley could win a close game? Well, he hasn’t had to because his team is apparently wired so properly to meet this moment. Remember the midseason struggles when this team talked about identity but lost six of eight games while searching for it? The Huskies didn’t need a travel agent or a cop to find it. Remember in another lifetime, or a week-plus ago, when it was easy to wonder if UConn, given its recent NCAA shortcomings, would get by Rick Pitino and Iona in the first round? How quickly everything has changed with three emphatic victories. They rebounded and moved the ball so precisely through all nine options in the rotation, the team’s depth applying the final spin to some narratives or concerns. The played as an immovable force, suffocating the Razorbacks, who had knocked off top-seeded Kansas in the second round. The Huskies built a 29-point lead, playing nearly perfect basketball, to move within one victory of the Final Four.Įssentially displaced, then ripped off, they owned the T-Mobile court. Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins were today’s version of Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon. UConn looked like 1985 Georgetown or 1991 UNLV or, heck, 2004 UConn on Thursday. “The only way to turn this week around is to win two games.” “And there it was, like three miles away,” he said, shaking his head in a UConn locker room, all around him another round of happy basketball conversations taking place. But my iPad was gone.”Ĭlingan said he used an app on his phone to track the iPad’s location. I remember leaving my backpack on the bus, on the seat. We were practicing at UNLV and my backpack was on the bus. Freshman center Donovan Clingan was among them. In total, Benedict said, a handful of UConn players were theft victims. We didn’t know we’d be moving with our tails between our legs back into the hotel just to get our bags and leave. We didn’t know there would be police reports from day one. It wasn’t what you expected when you got to Las Vegas for the Sweet 16. The way we travel gives us a chance to pursue championships. Obviously when you play at UConn, you have tremendous resources. “Disaster,” Hurley said of the initial hotel situation after the Huskies swept past the Razorbacks like a desert wind storm, 88-65, to move into an Elite Eight game Saturday against Gonzaga. UConn players and staff members, obviously, have been quite busy. Paperwork needed to gathered and formal statements submitted. Steps were immediately taken toward finalizing a police report, Benedict said, and conversations with police were ongoing. There, several items were stolen off the bus as the Huskies were inside, according to several players, athletic director David Benedict and coach Dan Hurley. As that process played out over the afternoon hours, the team practiced at the Thomas & Mack Center on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus. Already on Tuesday the Huskies had checked into one hotel only to find room conditions it considered deplorable, and worked toward finding another.
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