The (2) UConn Huskies(31-5) are headed to the Sweet 16 after defeating the (7) UCLA Bruins(24-12) 73-57 in the second round of the East Region at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia on Sunday.
UConn will face (3) Michigan State on Friday night in the Regional Semifinals at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
The Huskies were led by senior forward Alex Karaban, who had a career-high 27 points, and for the third time in his collegiate career, he’s going back to the Sweet 16.
“It’s amazing,” Karaban said. “Just to be part of the Sweet 16 is a blessing. Every time you win in this tournament, the feeling gets better and better. It’s unbelievable. To be going to the Sweet 16, it’s a blessing. I know everyone on the team is super happy, and the great thing is we get another week with this team to continue to practice and compete and really just be together.”
Karaban has played 147 games at UConn, and in all of them, he has been coached by Dan Hurley, who was impressed by what he saw from Karaban against UCLA.
“I think what you saw with AK(Karaban) tonight was a guy who I think in some of those late-season games, some of those losses that were disappointing for us, he left those games with some — where he didn’t go out guns blazing,” Hurley said. “What you’re going to see, what you saw, or what you’ve seen in this NCAA Tournament is a guy that’s attacking the game. He’s aggressively looking for all of his shots. He’s working his way to the ball. He’s driving the ball. I just think that he learned a lot from that Big East championship game, that game at Marquette, where he left those games not going out on his shield the way a player of his caliber should. I think that’s the difference. He’s not going down without firing all of his bullets.”
If the Huskies can get by Michigan State, and if St. John’s defeats Duke, we could see a fourth matchup between St. John’s and Connecticut, which Hurley hopes will happen.
“Obviously, we both hoped for a fourth meeting in D.C. It stinks a little bit that they threw us both in the same region,” Hurley said. “It feels like the combination of St. John’s being under-seeded, as well as putting us both in the same region. I don’t want to get myself in trouble with the selection committee or the NCAA, but I’m not a rule breaker.
“They can’t make stuff up on me. It will be a live building. It’s probably a little bit early, but obviously, I think we’ve got to be true to support each other. It’s pretty brutal on Twitter, I think, and socials between our fan bases, but I think we have to try to come together Friday night against our opponent so we can have a blood bath on Sunday.”
Notes:
UConn freshman Braylon Mullins had 17 points; Tarris Reed Jr. added 10 points, 13 rebounds, and three blocks.
UCLA, which had four players in double figures, was led by Xavier Booker’s 13 points. Eric Dailey Jr added 12, Skyy Clark and Donovan Dent chipped in with 11 points apiece.
The Bruins were again without their leading scorer, Tyler Bilodeau(knee), for the second straight game.
Leave a Reply