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Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff Writer
BOSTON — Late in the first half of Saturday’s East regional final between UConn and Illinois, the Huskies’ dominant march toward back-to-back national championships seemed in danger. Not just their streak of double-digit wins, but staying alive in the NCAA tournament.
The Fighting Illini had fought back from an early deficit to tie the score with 1:49 left until halftime.
Less than eight minutes of game action later, UConn led by 30.
The Huskies ran off 30 straight points, an onslaught not seen this late in the NCAA tournament in recent memory, en route to a 77-52 victory to advance to their second straight Final Four.
UConn will face the winner of Saturday night’s West regional final between Alabama Crimson Tide and Clemson Tigers.
Entering Saturday’s game, one of the key tactical questions was how UConn would defend smooth-shooting center Coleman Hawkins and whether Illinois could utilize its 5-out offense to drag 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan away from the basket and open up driving lanes.
It quickly became apparent Illinois had no real answer for dealing with Clingan. The projected lottery pick scored the first seven points of the game and produced a virtuoso defensive performance.
Clingan’s presence in the paint was impossible to overcome. He was officially credited with five blocks, but that might have been one or two short. Illinois simply couldn’t score at the rim; the Illini missed eight of their first 10 layups and shot just 28.6% from 2-point range in the first half. Illinois star Terrence Shannon Jr. shot 2-for-12 and completely stopped driving to the basket midway through the second half.
In Clingan’s first 17 minutes on the floor, Illinois scored a grand total of four points. According to ESPN Stats and Information research, Illinois went 0-for-19 on field goal attempts contested by Clingan.
He would ultimately finish with 22 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks and three steals in 22 minutes.
“You could see his impact once he’s healthy,” Hurley said on Friday. “He wasn’t healthy to start the year. Now he’s healthy. He’s in great form, and there’s few players in the country that impact the game like him.”
UConn failed to take advantage of Illinois’ early struggles, with an unexpected defensive slog breaking out between the two best offenses in the country. The Huskies missed their first 10 3-point attempts and had only two made shots outside the paint.
UConn’s All-American point guard Tristen Newton didn’t make a shot in the first half, going 0-for-6 from the field. While Shannon struggled, Southern Illinois transfer Marcus Domask kept the Illini in the game, making a pair of early 3s and then using his size advantage to score over smaller defenders in the post.
Back-to-back baskets by Domask late in the half tied the game at 23, but UConn scored the final five points of the period to go into halftime with a 28-23 lead.
The Huskies opened the second half by scoring the next 25 points, putting the game well out of reach and continuing a dominant two-year NCAA tournament run. UConn has now won its 10 NCAA tournament games by at least 13 points. The Huskies have trailed for only 28 seconds in this year’s tournament and have beaten their four opponents by an average of 27.8 points.
“We know what they do well and what they also do bad,” Newton told ESPN on Friday. “And we’re going to take advantage of what they do not so well.”
In the 80 second-half minutes UConn has played in this year’s NCAA tournament, the Huskies have led by double-digits for 76 minutes and three seconds.
“We broke through last year. We’ve established a level,” Hurley said on Friday. “Maybe we feel a little less pressure as an organization because we feel like we’ve established a level now of where our program’s at, that we’re going to be in this spot moving forward. Obviously, this year and moving forward.
“I don’t think we feel the same anxiety. We have tremendous respect for our opponent, know how hard tomorrow is going to be. But we’ve established a level that we expect to be back to.”