UConn men’s basketball headed to Sweet 16 for first time since 2014 after beating Saint Mary’s, 70-55

ALBANY, N.Y. – When the final buzzer sounded in MVP Arena on Sunday and the UConn men’s basketball team officially punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 for the first time since the 2013-14 season, the Huskies were quick to get back to the locker room where mayhem ensued. Towels were thrown, head coach Dan Hurley was yelling with glee, players lifted assistant coach Luke Murray’s young child into the air like he was Simba in “The Lion King.”

Thanks to a steady 24 points from Adama Sanogo and 12 in the second half from a lethal Jordan Hawkins, the fourth-seeded Huskies had just blown past fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s, 70-55, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Albany.

“It was just the happiest locker room you could’ve ever seen,” Alex Karaban said. “I was sitting next to Andre (Jackson) when Coach (Hurley) was talking and I was like, ‘We really in the Sweet 16.’ We just started laughing at each other with so much joy, it’s still an unreal feeling right now.”

UConn will meet No. 8-seed Arkansas (22-13) on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the program’s 18th Sweet 16 appearance all-time. The Huskies are 11-5 in regional semifinal games.

Sanogo also led the team with eight rebounds and made 11 of his 16 shots, while Hawkins heated up like a microwave and shot 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, making all four 3-pointers in a span of about three minutes. Tristen Newton made three 3-pointers on four attempts and scored 13 points with five assists. Stuffing the stat sheet as usual, Jackson registered six points, rebounds and assists.

The way Saint Mary’s opened the game was strikingly similar to the way Iona did in the first round Friday. The Gaels made seven of their first 10 shots, 2-for-3 from beyond the arc, to get ahead by as many as eight points before UConn head coach Dan Hurley sent in the reserves. Like they did in the first round, buckets from Donovan Clingan, Nahiem Alleyne and Joey Calcaterra cut UConn’s deficit to one with about nine minutes left until halftime.

“I said from the beginning, I think our depth is going to win us the championship,” Hawkins said. “They’ve been playing great this whole tournament… How they’re playing, I think we’re unbeatable.”

The score remaining close, Andre Jackson soared to the rim for a defensive rebound and pushed the pace himself with about a minute left in the opening 20. The co-captain thread a needle with a bounce pass and found Calcaterra again in transition.

The University of San Diego transfer fired from the wing in front of Saint Mary’s bench and gave UConn its first lead since the score was 7-6.

Augustus Marciulionis answered with a 3-pointer that put Saint Mary’s back up two, but UConn point guard Newton, who hit one at the 2:37 mark to tie it, walked into another with four seconds left from the wing. His third made 3-pointer of the opening 20 minutes fell through the net with a second to spare and sent UConn into the break up one, 31-30.

Alex Ducas had eight points for the Gaels on 3-of-4 shooting before he went down holding his lower back with about five minutes left in the first half. The Australian senior guard, who entered Sunday averaging more than 12 points per game, struggled to walk off the court and sit comfortably on the bench. He did not return to the game.

Sanogo, who scored a season-high 28 points with 13 rebounds in the first round, scored six of UConn’s first nine and went into the locker room with a game-leading 10 points and six rebounds. The 6-foot-9 big man used his powerful dribble to get past Saint Mary’s 6-foot-10 center Mitchell Saxen and scored eight of the Huskies first 13 points after the break.

Right after Sanogo was given a rest, substituted for Clingan, Newton took the ball from Saxen in the paint and found Karaban on the wing opposite the Huskies’ bench in transition. Karaban, relatively quiet in his first three halves of March Madness, hit from 3 with 13:33 on the clock to give UConn its largest lead of the game, 46-40.

Jackson made a floater after and Newton drew a Saint Mary’s charge to ignite the UConn-heavy crowd in MVP Arena.

Hawkins, still struggling, only took one shot in the first half and missed. But when the sophomore fired again with just over 11 minutes left in the second and registered his first three points of the game, the crowd showed love. The decibel-level only continued to rise after Clingan slammed down an alley-oop pass from Jackson and then Hawkins made another from deep to give the Huskies a 56-45 lead at the 9:50 mark.

“I’m not surprised by his talent, but I’m surprised – I’m like ‘Woah,’ his talent is like, ‘Woah,'” Karaban said. “What he does out there is special. The best shooter I’ve ever played with, he’s just a great shot maker and, you know, he’s a pro.”

The sophomore Hawkins scorched the net twice more from deep in the next three minutes and just like that, UConn had a 62-47 lead and the dancing began in Albany.

UConn (27-8) is now 15-4 in second round games since 1990.

“Just really happy,” Hurley said. “Number one, just I love this team. I love coaching these guys. These guys are – we’ve got some imports, some transfers that just fit right into our culture and have accepted their role. And they’ve supplemented some incredible, home-grown kids that we recruited out of high school and we’ve developed and put in this position to go out here and play in the most exciting time of the year.”