The men’s basketball team beat San Diego State 74-67 in the West Regional Semi-final Thursday night and will play Arizona on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. in the Elite Eight. Kemba Walker (36 points) and Jeremy Lamb (24 points) led the Huskies.
A day after playing an unprecedented five Men’s Big East Basketball Tournament games in as many days to win the conference championship and leading the Huskies to a No. 3 seed in the West region of the NCAA Tournament, Kemba Walker still could not find words to express how he felt.
“Still, none. I don’t think I’m ever going to find words to describe this feeling me and my teammates have,” said Walker, the junior guard named Big East Tournament Most Valuable Player, who averaged 26 points in 38 minutes per game. “It’s so surreal. It’s still unbelievable, honestly.”
The Huskies (26-9) will face Bucknell (25-8) of the Patriot League, a No. 14 seed, in the second round of March Madness on Thursday in Washington, D.C. The first round begins Tuesday with the additional teams that are playing for a No. 16 seed under the new 68 team format.
“It’s great to be back in the tournament,” said head coach Jim Calhoun. “To be a three [seed], one of the top nine or 10 teams in the country – our work this past week really paid off.”
The Huskies are one of 11 Big East teams in the NCAA Tournament, including Cincinnati, which faces Missouri in the West bracket. If UConn and the Bearcats both win, they would face off in the third round, with the winner moving on to Anaheim, Calif. UConn won a regular season game on the Bearcats’ court in February by a score of 67-59.
The top seed in the West region is Duke of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Pittsburgh of the Big East, which UConn upset last week during the conference tournament, is the top seed in the Southeast region. Kansas of the Big 12 is the top seed in the Southwest, and Ohio State of the Big 10 is the overall top seed in the tournament and in the East region.
“We have no problem going West,” said Calhoun, whose two national championship teams played in the West region.
Two Big East teams defeated Bucknell in its first two games of the season, both road games for the Bisons: Villanova won by 16 points and Marquette won by 11 points. The Huskies beat Villanova at home and split a home and home series against Marquette, with the visiting team gaining the victories.
Calhoun said associate head coach George Blaney has seen Bucknell play, and that by Monday afternoon the Huskies will know more about their NCAA opponent beyond the statistics available.
“I know they’re a motion team and their big kid can score,” he said.
Bucknell, which won 18 of its last 19 games, is led by sophomore Mike Muscala, a 6-11 center and this season’s Player of the Year in the Patriot League, who averages 14.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Bryson Johnson is the team’s second leading scorer with 11.6 points per game; he completes 46.8 percent of his three-point shots.
Listening to analysts on television discussing the NCAA tournament matchups, Calhoun said he preferred to focus on his team’s potential path through the competition.
“I only break it down as far as we’re concerned,” he said. “How do we fit against the teams we’re playing? I like to see a team that likes to score the basketball. I look in terms of how we can attack teams to get points. I still maintain that when we score we play better defense.”
Both the Huskies offense and defense relies on rebounding, something Calhoun felt was lacking toward the end of the regular season. His young team heard the message as it moved through the Big East Tournament: they finished with a 194-157 advantage over their opponents, led by sophomore center Alex Oriakhi, who averaged 10 rebounds per game, as well as 11.2 points.
“As he goes, we go,” said Walker, who was named a First Team All-American on Monday. “He has to rebound for us. He has to be a big-time player and stop other teams’ bigs and play with a ton of energy.”
Throughout the year, Calhoun has expressed his affection for his young team, as well as his belief in its potential.
“I’ve said it all year: This is a very good young basketball team,” he said. “They needed to turn confidence into focus [last week]. That’s the biggest thing I thought we did.”
Two freshmen who played key roles during the Big East tournament were forward Jeremy Lamb, whose rebounding and shooting helped the Huskies in key moments, and center Tyler Olander, who came up with important rebounds and drew defenders away from the basket. Lamb averaged 14.2 points per game and 4.2 rebounds in 30 minutes per game, while Olander’s 11 minutes per game resulted in timely rebounds late in games.
The Huskies leave Tuesday for Washington, D.C.
