Last night the Huskies defeated SDSU (2 seed) 74-67 in Anaheim, CA, adding an eighth win to their winning streak.
They were up by 9 at halftime, but SDSU made a quick comeback in the second half and the nail-biting ensued. Our Huskies had some trouble rebounding the ball, but Kemba Walker kept it together. Walker made 36 points, almost half of UConn’s points. Jeremy Lamb made 24 points. As if we didn’t adore them enough already!
Now, if you’re thinking, “Another win, great! Wait, what happens next?” then read on.
UConn has successfully made its way through the Sweet Sixteen to the Elite Eight. Only eight of the sixty-four teams are left, hence “Elite Eight”.Â
Saturday they will be going head-to-head with the Arizona Wildcats (5 seed) for a spot in the Final Four. Arizona defeated Duke (1 seed) 93-77 last night in Anaheim. (Term to know: when a lower seeded team beats a higher seeded team in the tournament it is called “an upset”.) Arizona is led by Derrick Williams, a 6’8, 241 lb, Forward, who is averaging 19.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. He’ll be wearing #23, so be sure to keep an eye out for him.
Genna Sperling, a student sports announcer for WHUS provides insight on the situation:
“Arizona proved a lot of fans wrong over the past season, just like UConn did. That’s why this game is clutch, because no one thought either ‘zona or UConn would be in the Elite 8… Kemba needs to get hot early, Lamb and Smith need to knock down big shots, and Oriakhi needs to grab every rebound.”
Last time UConn made the Final Four was two seasons ago, when Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet were our star ballers. They lost to Michigan State that round, 82-73. Hopefully the Huskies scare off the Wildcats Saturday for another chance at the Final Four.
This game definitely calls for some celebratory beers and the place to be Saturday night is at Huskies watching the game on the big screen. The game is at 7:05PM on CBS.