The Big East took a lot of flack for its subpar performance in the NCAA Tournament, but the UConn Huskies are making good as the conference’s lone remaining representative, advancing to the Final Four today by beating the Arizona Wildcats, 65-63.
The game featured the matchup of two top players in Connecticut’s Kemba Walker and Arizona’s Derrick Williams, and each scored 20 points. UConn’s second-leading scorer, Jeremy Lamb, scored 19.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 9-1 lead early on, but the Huskies crawled back into the game, taking their first lead with about eight minutes to go in the first half when Shabazz Napier put in a layup. Walker hit a three-pointer shortly before the end of the half to send UConn to the locker room with a 32-25 lead.
Arizona came back to tie the game a few minutes into the second half and had a three-point lead with six-and-a-half minutes left to play. From there, UConn scored 10 unanswered points (six of them by Lamb), giving the Huskies the cushion they needed to withstand a late Arizona rally. Williams and Jamelle Horne each missed three-pointers in the final seconds, either of which would have given the Wildcats a one-point lead.
Connecticut’s next opponent will be the winner of the matchup between North Carolina and Kentucky, to be played tomorrow at 4:55.