Elite Eight!

The UConn men's basketball team advanced to the Elite Eight on Friday night with a 81-75 victory over Iowa State at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  The Huskies will face Michigan State on Sunday afternoon with the winner advancing to the Final Four.

Here are some tidbits - UConn lost their only meeting with Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament, in the 2009 Final Four played in Detriot.

No, No. 7 seed advanced to the Final Four.

UConn has never advanced to the Final Four from the East Region.  The Huskies lost a heartbreaker to Duke in 1990 in the Meadowlands.  Then again, UConn lost to North Carolina in Greensboro in 1998.  Also, UConn lost to Maryland in Syracuse in 2002.  Most recently, UConn lost to George Mason in Washington, DC in 2006.  In two of those three games, UConn was the higher seed and twice they played the regional final in the opponent's backyard.

UConn has advanced to the Final Four the four times in the last six appearances in the Elite Eight.

The crowd at Madison Square Garden will be again a pro-UConn crowd.  This is amazing since the fans did not show up earlier this season when they played in the 2K Sports Classic.  I was there for the championship game and in a half fulled MSG, it was a very pro-Indiana crowd.  I felt like it has been that way the past few times UConn has played a preseason tournament there and even the last few St. John's games.  If UConn fans want to make some noise, they need to appear again next year at Yankee Stadium for the football game vs. Army and again when there is a UConn men's./women's doubleheader.  I remember the day that Metro North always had extra cars and trains when UConn was in town - this needs to happen again and often.

Go Huskies!

PS:  Today is the 15th anniversary of the greatest win in UConn basketball history.  77-74!

UConn women win on Senior Day, 72-35

March got off to a great start for the Connecticut women’s basketball team. The Huskies defeated No. 25 Rutgers, 72-35, to earn a share of the American Athletic Conference regular season championship.

In a game where they never trailed, top-ranked and unbeaten UConn (30-0 overall, 17-0 AAC) used a stifling defense to keep the Scarlet Knights (21-7, 12-5) at bay.  Rutgers was held to a season-low 35 points scored. They played without their leading scorer Kahleah Cooper who missed most of the game with turf toe.

Breanna Stewart and Bria Hartley led the Huskies in scoring. They both scored 20 points each. Stewart and Stefanie Dolson (six points) had 10 rebounds apiece. Kia Stokes pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds off the bench.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis returned to the court after missing four games with a bout of mononucleosis and played 27 minutes and scored seven points. She was a bit rusty making only one three pointers in seven attempts but had three assists.    

Prior to the game, Hartley and Dolson were honored in the senior day festivities. Both All-Americans were also inducted into the Huskies of Honor at Gampel Pavilion.

The Huskies, which have won 36 straight, have started the season 30-0 for the seventh time in program history.  They went on to win the national title five times and went undefeated four times. This is also the ninth straight time UConn has won 30 games in a season and the 18^th time in the last 20 seasons.

During the game, Dolson pulled down her 1,000 career rebound. She became the fifth UConn player to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds.

No. 1 UConn will visit No. 3 Louisville on Monday night in the final regular season conference game of the season. If the Huskies win, they will capture their first outright American championship and the top seed in next weekend’s conference tournament. If they lose, both teams will be declared co-champions and a coin flip will determine the top seed in the tournament.

Steve Lappas' Post Game Comment following Thursday's Game

Watch this video from CollegeSpun...

http://collegespun.com/aac/connecticut/steve-lappas-did-not-enjoy-last-nights-uconn-houston-game-very-much#

Weekly Recap on the Huskies

The UConn men's basketball team took care of business against two of the cellar dwellers in the American Athletic Conference this past week.  Without Ryan Boatright and in front of  a cozy home crowd due to a snowstorm, the Huskies destroyed the Temple Owls (99-66) on Tuesday night at the XL Center in Hartford.  Last night, UConn made a final conference road trip to Northern Jersey and the Rutgers Athletic Center - a horrible building in its own right - and dismantled the Scarlet Knights (82-71).

On Tuesday night, behind stellar performances by Shabazz Napier (27 points) and DeAndre Daniels (31 points), the Huskies outright dominated new conference foe Temple.  It was a performance for the ages for these two.  They came a few points short of becoming the first UConn duo to score 30 points a piece in a game.   The team was on fire from the field, hitting 53.4% of their shots, and going 12-23 from three point range.  The Huskies also held their own on the glass, winning the battle of the boards 45-25.

Saturday night, the Huskies started the game up 1-0 before tip-off at Rutgers.  Referee Duke Edsell (yes, brother of former UConn football coach Randy Edsell) called an administrative technical foul while Rutgers was in the lay-up lines.  A Rutgers player was dunking the ball when he was not suppose to.  The crowd was electric at the RAC.  It could be the little shop of horrors in what looks like a bomb shelter.  The game was back and forth, but the Huskies were able to build a ten point lead midway through the first half.  They kept Rutgers in the game throughout.  Niels Giffey (9 points in 33 minutes) hit open threes and Amida Brimah (10 points and 8 rebounds) was a force down low.

Rutgers did cut the lead down to five at the half and took it early in the second half on an 11-0 run.  Little used freshman guard Terrance Samuel came into the game, provided some instance offense with the Huskies struggling, and converted on a three point play which gave the Huskies back the lead.  Napier took over in the final 18 minutes of the game scoring 20 points.  Napier finished with a game high 26 points.

The big concern are the ankle injuries of two key players.  Omar Calhoun injured his ankle during the Temple game and did not play on Saturday.  DeAndre Daniels suffered a high ankle sprain late in the first half on Saturday. A good thing the schedule is spread out the next couple of weeks.  The Huskies play twice in the next 12 days.  This gives time to heal.

Expect the Huskies to be ranked in this coming week's AP and USA Today polls.  They are winners of five of six games.  UConn is 16-4 overall and 4-3 in the American.  Currently, they are fifth place in the American - only a half game out in the loss column of third place (Memphis and SMU are 4-2).  Cincinnati (7-0) and Louisville (6-1) are the top two teams in the conference.

The Huskies are off until Thursday night when the host Houston at 9pm at Gampel Pavilion.  (Yes, those Houston Cougars who knocked off UConn on New Years Eve.)  The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.  If you do not get the game on your local tv package, listen to the game on the radio (1080AM - Hartford or 960AM New Haven) - do no pay UConnHuskies.com to listen to the broadcast online.  There is no online coverage of the game.  You only can listen for free online, tune in to WHUS.org, 91.7FM, the UConn student radio station.