March Madness: UConn becomes the first reigning national champions to reach the Elite Eight since 2007 after beating San Diego State... as Clemson spoils Arizona's homecoming hopes

The Connecticut Huskies extended their streak of double-digit victories in March Madness to nine in a row with a victory over San Diego State in a rematch of 2023’s national championship game.

It was the first rematch of a national title game in the tournament since 2007 - when Florida knocked off UCLA in that season’s Final Four. Now UConn shares something else with that Florida team - the 2024 Huskies are the first defending national champions since the ‘07 Gators to reach the Elite Eight after a brutal beatdown in the second half to make it an 82-52 win.

In 2007, Florida went back-to-back and no team has done so since. That’s what UConn’s goal is now - and their next task is to knock off the winner of Thursday night’s game between three-seed Illinois and two-seed Iowa State.

Elsewhere, the Clemson Tigers prevented what could have been a homecoming for the Arizona Wildcats. With the Final Four in Phoenix, the ‘Cats hopes of playing in their home state were foiled as the six-seed Clemson advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1980 in a 77-72 victory.

(1) UConn 82-52 San Diego State (5)

A tight first half saw the Huskies head to the locker room with a nine-point advantage over the Aztecs.

While Jaedon LeDee led the way for SDSU with 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting, none of his teammates could get much closer to him in the first half.

Meanwhile UConn was able to rely on multiple players to score - led by guard Cam Spencer's 6-for-9 shooting performance with 16 points and with major contributions from Tristen Newton (9 points) and Alex Karaban (8 points). 

Connecticut got out to a 6-0 run out of the under-16 media timeout and continued to build their lead - up to 15 points at the midway mark of the second half.

That only grew bigger - as the Huskies completely dominated San Diego State in the second half.

Connecticut outscored San Diego State 42-21 in the second interval. Spencer finished the night leading the team with 18 points as Newton managed 17 points and freshman phenom Stephon Castle got himself a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

The Aztecs season ends with LeDee managing 18 points and bench player Micah Parrish putting up ten of his own. No one else hit double digits for SDSU. 

THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY. MORE TO FOLLOW.