Chase Hunter scored 18 points and made a three-point play with 25.7 seconds left, helping Clemson win against Arizona 77-72 in a West Region semifinal on Thursday.
PJ Hall contributed 17 points for the sixth-seeded Tigers (24-11), who will play against North Carolina or Alabama.
Clemson last reached the final eight in 1980 when Coach Brad Brownell was making his second appearance in the second weekend of March Madness.
Coach Brad Brownell mentioned, “We’ve faced many challenges. This is a significant moment for Clemson basketball.”
Jaden Bradley scored 18 points, Oumar Ballo had 15, and Caleb Love 13 for second-seeded Arizona (27-9), which had a terrible shooting night, going 5 of 28 (17.9%) from 3-point range. Love missed all nine of his attempts beyond the arc as the Wildcats failed to reach the Elite Eight for the 12th time overall and first time since 2015.
The Wildcats' coach, Tommy Lloyd, was eliminated in the Sweet 16 for the second time in his three seasons.
After Bradley’s 3-pointer got Arizona within 72-70, Hunter secured the game with a layup while being fouled by Bradley. Hunter’s free throw made it a five-point game.
Hunter mentioned, “I just wanted to make a play. At the end of the day, I wanted to get to the basket, wanted to get an and-1, wanted to make something happen, and that’s what I did.”
UCONN 82, SAN DIEGO STATE 52
BOSTON — Stephon Castle had 16 points and 11 rebounds for top-seeded UConn as they advanced to the Elite Eight with a double-digit victory, beating San Diego State 82-52 on Thursday night in a rematch of last year’s title game.
Cam Spencer scored 18 points and Tristen Newton added 17 points and seven rebounds for the Huskies (34-3), who will face the winner of the other East Region semifinal between No. 2 Iowa State and No. 3 Illinois for a spot in the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona.
The Huskies followed up blowouts last weekend with their ninth straight double-digit March Madness victory, a year after winning their fifth national championship by an average of almost 20 points in six NCAA Tournament games.
The Huskies made it a double-digit lead early in the second half, 20 with about seven minutes left and 30 in the final minutes, after the teams sent in their benches. UConn coach Dan Hurley’s son Andrew even got into the game with 1:44 left, drawing a celebratory cheer.
Donovan Clingan, who is seven feet tall, had eight points and eight rebounds but played only 23 minutes due to foul trouble.
Jaedon LeDee scored 15 of his 18 points in the first half for fifth-seeded San Diego State, which followed up the only Final Four appearance in school history with another Sweet 16 run.
For the second straight year, the Aztecs (26-11) lost to UConn, which is now three wins away from being the first team to repeat as NCAA champions since Florida in 2006 and '07.
UConn got ahead by 10 points before halfway through the first half, but both teams then struggled to score for about 10 minutes. Despite shooting 6 for 28 for the rest of the half, UConn still ended up with a nine-point lead at halftime after starting with a 27-16 lead.
The Huskies got a double-digit lead early in the second half when Newton made a 3-pointer with an assist from Clingan, making it 45-33. They then scored the next nine points to extend their lead to 17 with eight minutes left.
UConn won the championship game last year with a 76-59 victory. They also beat the Aztecs in the 2011 Sweet 16, with Kawhi Leonard’s San Diego State team losing to Kemba Walker’s Huskies, who went on to win the school’s third national championship.
Last year, UConn extended their lead and ultimately beat the Aztecs 76-59 after being up by five points with five minutes remaining.
