UConn powers back to Final 4 4Four

NO. 1 UCONN 77, NO. 3 ILLINOIS 52

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UConn center Donovan Clingan celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer against Illinois during the second half of an Elite 8 game on Saturday in Boston. STEVEN SENNE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Jimmy Golen

The Associated Press

BOSTON >> Thirty points in a row — that’s quite a run.

The streak UConn is putting together this March is pretty impressive, too.

The defending NCAA champions scored 30 straight points to power their way back to the Final Four, steamrolling Illinois 77-52 on Saturday night — a March Madness record 10th straight double-digit victory for the top-seeded Huskies.

Donovan Clingan scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds and five blocked shots for UConn, which pulled away by scoring the first 25 points of the second half. The Huskies, who cruised to their fifth national title last year, seem inexorably headed for a sixth: Their NCAA Tournament wins this year have come by 39, 17, 30 and 25 points.

UConn, which won the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden and advanced to the Sweet 16 in Brooklyn, will now get on an airplane for the first time in almost a month and head to the Final Four in Glendale, Ariz. It will face Alabama, which is going to its First Final Four.

The Huskies are the first defending champs to make it back to the national semifinals since Florida won back-to-back titles in 2006 and ’07.

Marcus Domask scored 17 points — 15 in the first half — for Illinois (29-9), and star Terrence Shannon Jr. was held to eight points on 2-of-12 shooting.

Cam Spencer had 11 points and 12 rebounds for UConn, which reached the Elite Eight with a 30-point win over San Diego State on Thursday night. Hassan Diarra scored 11 and Alex Karaban had 10 points for the Huskies.

But the big problem for third-seeded Illinois was the 7-foot-2 Clingan.

The Fighting Illini (29-9) managed just four points in the first half when Clingan was in the game, with the Connecticut native recording nine points, six rebounds and three blocks before the break.

UConn led 28-23 at the half, but then things really fell apart for the Illini. They missed their first 14 shots of the second — 17 misses in a row, in all. The 30-0 UConn run lasted for the last 1:49 of the first half and the first 7:19 of the second.

By the time Clingan took a break with 14:35 to play, the Huskies led by 23.