NCAA Tournament: UConn routs San Diego State in title game rematch

The top-seeded defending champs get a balanced effort and advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament with another double-digit victory, hammering the Aztecs, 82-52.

By JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer

BOSTON — The rematch turned into another UConn mismatch.

Stephon Castle had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the defending NCAA champions, and the top-seeded Huskies advanced to the Elite Eight with another double-digit victory, beating San Diego State, 82-52, on Thursday night in a rematch of last year’s national championship game.

Cam Spencer scored 18 points and Tristen Newton added 17 points and seven rebounds for UConn (34-3). The Huskies will play third-seeded Illinois, which beat Iowa State, 72-69, later Thursday in the other East Region semifinal, on Saturday night for a spot in the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona.

A year after cruising to their fifth national championship – winning their six NCAA Tournament games by an average of almost 20 points – the Huskies followed up blowouts last weekend with their ninth straight double-digit March Madness victory.

They have won by 39, 17 and 30 points in this tournament.

“We suck at winning close games,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “You’ve got to go with the alternative.”

Backed by a virtual home crowd at TD Garden – Boston is about 90 miles from their Storrs, Connecticut, campus – the Huskies made it a double-digit lead early in the second half, 20 with about seven minutes left and 30 in the final minutes, after the teams sent in their benches. Hurley’s son Andrew even got into the game with 1:44 left, drawing a celebratory cheer.

“It means a lot just to be able to travel with our fans. … I feel like it gives us kind of a boost, a little bit of an advantage,” Castle said. “We tried to make it like ‘Storrs North.’ They showed out for us, and it was definitely electric in there tonight.”

Seven-footer Donovan Clingan, who played just 23 minutes after getting into foul trouble, had eight points and eight rebounds for UConn, which matched a school record for victories. The Huskies trailed for just 28 seconds in the game and earned the largest victory in the Sweet 16 since Kansas beat Purdue, 98-66, in 2017.

“I think the group, we have killer instincts. We play every possession with great desperation,” Hurley said. “Obviously, we’re very comfortable in tournament play.”

Jaedon LeDee scored 15 of his 18 points in the first half and Micah Parrish scored 10 for fifth-seeded San Diego State, which followed up the only Final Four appearance in school history with another Sweet 16 run.

But for the second straight year, the Aztecs (26-11) ran into UConn.

“It’s not the ending we’re going to remember; it’s the journey. Because the journey is everything,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said. “We’ve been on an incredible journey together.

“They’re 7-2 on college basketball’s biggest stage over the last two years. It’s something to take great pride in,” Dutcher said. “If losing a basketball game is the worst thing that’s going to happen in your life, you’re going to have a fantastic life.”

UConn is the first defending champion to reach the Elite Eight since Florida won it all in 2006 and ’07. No team has won repeat titles since.

“It’s kind of been against the odds in terms of the season we’re having, following up the national championship with an even better season,” Hurley said. “This team has defied what past champions have done and taken this program to a completely different level.”

UConn took its first 10-point lead before the midpoint of a first half in which both teams went cold about 10 minutes in. After opening a 27-16 lead with 11 minutes left, UConn shot 6 for 28 to finish the half – and still took a nine-point lead into the break.

The Huskies went up by double digits for good in the opening minutes of the second half when Newton – thanks to an offensive rebound and assist from Clingan – hit a 3-pointer to make it 45-33. Leading by 17 with eight minutes left, UConn scored the next nine points to pull away.

UConn won last year’s championship game, 76-59, and also beat the Aztecs in the 2011 Sweet 16, with Kemba Walker scoring 36 points to set a tournament record and beat Kawhi Leonard’s San Diego State. The Huskies went on to win the school’s third national championship.

UConn won it all again in 2014. Last year, the Huskies made it five, pulling away after leading by five points with five minutes left to beat San Diego State, 76-59.

“Either they’re better or we’re worse, I don’t know,” Dutcher said. “Yeah, they’re good. They’re connected. … They’re an outstanding team and will be very dangerous down the road.”

In the other East Regional semifinal … 

Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 29 points and Illinois reached the Elite Eight for the first time since 2005, beating Iowa State, 72-69, in the second game in Boston.

Shannon had 20 points in the first half for the third-seeded Illini (29-8), who never trailed. He broke away for a dunk in the closing seconds and later hit two free throws to help Illinois finally put away the second-seeded Cyclones (29-8).

Illinois made an NCAA Tournament regional final for the fourth time in the past 40 years.

Curtis Jones scored 26 points and Keshon Gilbert had 14 for Iowa State, which came into March Madness having blown out Houston for the Big 12 Tournament title.

The Illini have made the past four NCAA Tournaments under seventh-year coach Brad Underwood, who had never taken them past the first weekend until this year. Coleman Hawkins added 12 points and was the only other Illinois player in double figures.

The Illini’s lead was down to 68-64 with under a minute to play before a turnover by Milan Momcilovic found its way to Shannon, who drove in a for a two-handed dunk with 24 seconds left.

Jones was fouled on a 3-point attempt and dropped in all three free throws to make it 70-67, but Shannon calmly made two foul shots with six seconds left.

The Cyclones struggled offensively in the first half, trailing 36-26 at the break, but found their touch after halftime. A floater by Gilbert got Iowa State within 51-49 with 9:46 remaining.

Gilbert then got a steal – one of Iowa State’s 11 – and sprinted in for a potential tying layup, but it rolled off the rim.

Iowa State later misfired with another chance to tie it up, this time leading to a driving layup by Illinois’ Marcus Domask. He completed a three-point play to make it 56-51.

When Iowa State got it back within three a few possessions later, Domask came through again, knocking down a 3 to push the Illini’s lead back to 62-56.

Illinois entered the night with the top offensive efficiency rating in the tournament, but it was its defense that stood out at the outset.

The Illini’s game plan was to chase the Cyclones off the 3-point line and make them try contested shots inside the arc. It worked for most of the first half as Iowa State’s shooting percentage fell under 20% near the midway point. The Cyclones also had a more than five-minute scoring drought.

Iowa State came in boasting the tourney’s most efficient defense and started the game with a steal by Gilbert. But the Cyclones had few highlights beyond that in the opening 20 minutes.

Illinois took a quick 11-2 lead while Iowa State went scoreless for nearly four minutes.

AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower contributed to this story.