Defending nationwide champ UConn powered their method back into the Final Four behind a 30-0 run led by Donovan Clingan, who ended up with 22 points and 10 rebounds as the Huskies squashed Illinois 77-52 on Saturday night. It was a March Madness record 10th straight double-digit triumph for the Huskies, who travelled to their 5th nationwide title in 2015 and appear inexorably headed for a 6th. Their NCAA competition wins this year have actually come over 39, 17, 30 and 25 points. The top-seeded Huskies (35-3) will now get on a plane for the very first time in practically a month and head to the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona, where they will deal with the West Region champ Alabama, who won 84-79 over Clemson in Saturday’s nightcap. They are the very first protecting champs to make it back to the nationwide semi-finals because Florida won back-to-back titles in 2006 and ’07. That’s still a possibility for the Huskies, too. Marcus Domask scored 17 points– 15 in the very first half– for Illinois (29-9), and star Terrence Shannon Jr. was held to 8 points on 2-of-12 shooting. Shannon, who scored 29 points in Thursday night’s Sweet 16 success over Iowa State, snapped a string of 41 straight video games scoring in double digits. Web cam Spencer had 11 points and 12 rebounds, Hassan Diarra scored 11 and Alex Karaban had 10 points for UConn. The huge issue for third-seeded Illinois was the 7ft 2in Clingan. The Fighting Illini (29-9) handled simply 4 points in the very first half when Clingan remained in the video game, with the Connecticut native recording 9 points, 6 rebounds and 3 obstructed shots before the break. UConn led simply 28-23 at the half, however then things truly broke down for the Illini. They missed their very first 14 shots of the 2nd– 17 misses out on in a row, in all– as the Huskies scored the very first 25 points of the duration. The 30-0 UConn run lasted for the last 1:49 of the very first half and the very first 7:19 of the 2nd. By the time Clingan took a break with 14:35 to play, the Huskies led by 23. On the next Illinois ownership, Samson Johnson– who subbed in for Clingan– obstructed Shannon under the basket and ended up the quick break at the other end with a layup that provided UConn a 48-23 lead. The Huskies have a school-record 35 wins this season.
UConn to deal with Alabama in Final Four return after rolling Illinois with 30-0 run
