UConn men’s basketball takes on Duke in Sunday’s East Region final. The Huskies beat Michigan State for the right to face the Blue Devils after they defeated St. John’s earlier in Friday’s Sweet 16 matchups. Duke and UConn are meeting for the first time since 2015.
With a 35-2 record on the season, Jon Scheyer’s squad earned the NCAA Tournament’s top overall seed. Cameron Boozer is a top NBA Draft prospect, and their roster is filled with blue-chippers, including a starting lineup of five top-25 high school recruits.
“Boozer is a unique challenge,” Hurley said. “He's a threat pretty much from everywhere. He scores at the 3-point line at a pretty efficient clip. Obviously, he's devastating in and around the paint, on the offensive glass. But what makes him unique is how much he plays on-ball and the way they kind of ball screen him.”
Hurley continued: “With him and [Isaiah] Evans and the depth of all of their talent, you've just got to figure out the things you want to take away from him, the things that you're not going to allow him to do in the game. You can't take everything away, so we've got to pick and choose.”
Duke is 3rd in KenPom overall efficiency (5th Offense, 3rd Defense), 13th in eFG%, 12th in eFG% allowed, and 13th in the country in rebounds per game with the no. 4 offensive rebounding rate.
The Blue Devils' only losses on the season were to Texas Tech, by one point, and against ACC in-state rival UNC on the road. They went 11-1 through a non-conference slate that saw wins over Kansas, Arkansas, Florida, and Michigan State, before a one-off out-of-conference meeting against Michigan in February, which they also won.
Duke started the NCAA Tournament with a battle from Gerry McNamara’s Siena in the first round, winning 71-65 despite trailing deep into the second half. After taking care of TCU in the Round of 32, they won a battle over St. John’s, which was playing in its first Sweet 16 since 1999. They’re favored over the Huskies by five points in KenPom projections and 5.5 points by the oddsmakers.
UConn enters the Elite Eight with its stars playing their best ball of the season. Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. are averaging 20 points per game each and sealed the deal against Michigan State with some huge makes in the final minutes.
“I definitely feel like I'm playing my best,” Karaban said. “I feel the most confident I've felt my entire career.”
The Huskies are in their 14th Elite Eight, 13th since 1990, with eyes on making the program’s eighth Final Four, with every appearance coming since 1999.
This year, Karaban and Reed Jr. are leading a squad that’s also seen a hearty effort from Silas Demary Jr., who has been playing through injury at about 70 percent and hasn’t taken a live practice rep since the Big East Tournament championship, according to head coach Dan Hurley. Jaylin Stewart returned from injury after an eight-game absence in their Sweet 16 win.
The Huskies have also gotten a boost from Malachi Smith, playing some of his best hoops at this time of year while Demary Jr. has been limited, in addition to Solo Ball breaking out of a slump against Michigan State. They’ll need everyone firing on all cylinders as they prepare for a blue-blood battle in Washington D.C. tonight.
The game tips off at 5:05 p.m. on CBS.
