UConn keeps rolling in March, trounces Gonzaga

LAS VEGAS– Dan Hurley was the last one to climb up the ladder.There was only

one piece of the net staying to be cut. However after the UConn coach reached for the scissors, he paused and put them back in the holder. Hurley rather ripped the twine from the hoop, raised it as a prize and got the rim with both hands, shaking it in equal parts anger and ecstasy.It was the best metaphor for his No. 4 seed Huskies’ rampage through the West Region, which was finished with Saturday night’s 82-54 demolition of No. 3 Gonzaga and sent out UConn to its sixth Final 4 next week versus the winner of Sunday’s Miami-Texas Midwest Area final. “When you play us for the first time, we’re really special with what we have with Adama [Sanogo] and these two wings [Jordan Hawkins and Andre Jackson Jr.], and after that you’re looking at [Donovan] Clingan being available in at 7-2 and the shooting off the bench,”Hurley said.”We’re an elite defensive group. We’re a top-five offensive team, and we usually beat the other group on the glass.”And often, when individuals are seeing us for the very first time, it’s overwhelming.” Andre Jackson Jr. on UConn’s dominant March Insanity encounter the Last 4: “We’ve got a lot to show.” Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

It was the very first time Gonzaga was dealing with Connecticut considering that 2015.

Physically hard? Check.Mentally sound?Well, if the

distraction of a hotel

switch upon arrival and the inconvenience of a bus burglary throughout a practice couldn’t rattle the Huskies on their first-ever Las Vegas getaway– let alone three players, consisting of star forward Sanogo, fasting throughout the day to observe Ramadan– how would a Gonzaga team having an off night overthrow UConn?It couldn’t. Editor’s Picks Think about: UConn’s 28-point success was the largest in an Elite 8 game considering that Cincinnati beat Memphis by

31 points in 1992. The Huskies became the 10th team to win each of its first 4 NCAA competition games by a minimum of 15 points, signing up with the 2004 Huskies, who won the title. And UConn is the fifth group considering that 2000 to have a +90 -point differential through its very first four tournament games, along with 2021 Gonzaga( +96), 2009 UConn (+101), 2009 North Carolina(+90)and 2008 North Carolina (+101 ). It sought one of his six 3-pointers when Hawkins, running back downcourt, moved his jersey, revealing the crowd the lettering in the front.

“My feelings took all of me, “said Hawkins, who was named the region’s MVP after scoring a game-high 20 points. “And I just needed to bend ‘UCONN.

‘UConn’s back.” Jackson, who had a total game with 8 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists, chimed in: “However we never left.”

In truth, the Huskies left their paw prints all over the regional, the first NCAA competition games ever played in Las Vegas. And they ran over Gonzaga in ending the college profession of All-American forward Drew Timme, who reiterated this week he would enter the NBA draft rather than return for a 5th year afforded by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Timme was encumbered nasty problem, getting his third and 4th fouls within the very first 2:21 of the 2nd half. Gonzaga was down 10 points at the time.

The fourth nasty appeared especially iffy, with an inadvertent elbow toward Jackson’s head, however Timme went to the bench.UConn would stretch the result in as much as 33 points, with 3:48 to play.”Look, we can state,’What if?’Right?” stated Timme, who scored 12 points on just 5-of-14 shooting from the field and got 10 rebounds in 32 minutes.

“What if they didn’t call a foul? But the bottom line is they were the better group tonight. They made more shots. They got the 50-50 balls. No matter whether we wish to state what-ifs, the refs didn’t control that game. They were the better team tonight. “Timme, whom Hurley called”one of the very best huge men to ever play college basketball,”finished his profession as the 10th-leading scorer in NCAA tournament history, with 301 points, seven away from 5th place.But as Timme and Gonzaga head house, UConn heads to Houston.” I could only screw it up when you’re sitting beside 3 NBA players, “Hurley, in his fifth year at UConn, stated as he nodded to his right at Jackson, Sanogo and

Hawkins.”We should be going to the Final Four. “