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By Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News AssociationSan Diego State knocked up against a solid brick wall in the form of UConn Thursday, ending their NCAA Tournament run.
March 29, 2024 (Boston) -- The Aztecs fell 82-52 in Boston, as the Huskies (34-3) topped them again in the worst defeat a team has suffered in the Sweet 16 since Kansas beat Purdue by 32 seven years ago. Last year, UConn easily handled SDSU in the NCAA championship game, winning by 17.
UConn, this year’s overall No. 1 seed, won its ninth straight game in double figures at the tournament, a streak dating back to their 2023 title run. The Huskies will play No. 3 seed Illinois Saturday as they try to reach the Final Four.
“They’re an outstanding team and will be very dangerous down the road,” SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher said.
For a time, the fifth-seeded Aztecs (26-11) kept pace with the Huskies, and briefly, thanks to a three-pointer from Darrion Trammell, had a 10-9 lead.
But UConn promptly went on a 12-2 run, to jump out to a 27-16 lead, their largest of the half. They went quiet though, missing 13 of 15 shots, allowing San Diego State to climb back and reduce the lead to four, 35-31, on a jumper by Micah Parrish.
But Trammell and the rest of the team largely had a poor shooting half, going 6-for-23, while Jaedon LeDee scored 15 on 7-for-10 shooting.
And Cam Spencer righted the ship for UConn, leading the way with 16 points, including a three with :21 seconds left in the half to build the Huskies’ lead back up to nine, at 40-31.
In a physical game, though, LeDee countered UConn big man Donovan Clingan, holding him to two points in the first half.
“I’m not going to let him just go in there and do what he wants to do down there,” LeDee said. “I was just out there competing.”
If Spencer steadied UConn’s offense early, Stephon Castle smoothly took over in the second half and the Huskies surged while SDSU faltered.
UConn had its largest lead of the game, 51-35, six minutes into the half. The advantage ballooned to 27 with four minutes left while the Aztecs went 1-for-9 from the field – and this time LeDee couldn’t rescue SDSU.
The All-American finished with 18 points, as he went 1-for-8 in the second half while missing three free throws.
Lamont Butler led the Aztecs in the half with just six points, while Parrish and Jay Pal each had five. Parrish ended the game with 10 and Butler with seven.
To compare, the three leading Huskies, Spencer, Tristen Newton and Castle, finished with 18, 17 and 16 a piece.
UConn also held a clear advantage on the glass, an area where SDSU typically excels. The Huskies had 50 rebounds to the Aztecs’ 29; the Huskies’ 21 offensive rebounds outnumbered SDSU’s 17 on defense.
“I think the group, we have killer instincts. We play every possession with great desperation,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley told the Associated Press.
The Aztecs finished fifth in the Mountain West and as the runner up at the conference tournament. They set aside a challenge by the University of Alabama, Birmingham to open their NCAA Tournament run and followed it with a rout of Yale to return to the Sweet 16.
The last two years have been a tale of success for SDSU. The team made it to the national championship game for the first time in 2023, and in storybook fashion, as late shots by Trammell, and more famously Butler, put them in the Final Four and the title game, respectively.
“It’s everything I wanted coming here,” Trammell said. “Me and Dutch and the coaching staff talked. The biggest thing was to make runs in March.”
But in the end, this year’s run and the last ended the same – with the Aztecs thwarted by UConn.
“We’ve been on an incredible journey together,” Dutcher said, then pointing to LeDee and Trammell, added “I take great joy here tonight with these … guys sitting next to me, the fact that they’re 7-2 on college basketball’s biggest stage over the last two years. It’s something to
take great pride in.”
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