All-Access at the West Regional in Las Vegas: Arkansas-UConn

The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The Sweet 16/Elite 8 are taking place in 4 cities around the country and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all of the angles so you can look forward to a cascade of coverage in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage from Las Vegas with a recap of Arkansas-UConn.



Welcome to T-Mobile Arena!

Do not even think about sneaking in because there are a LOT of police outside:

Sadly, there is absolutely nobody protecting my seat because it is WAY up high.

The control booth appears to have more buttons/monitors than NASA preparing to launch a space shuttle.

The last time these 2 teams met was in the 3rd place game at the PK-80 Invitational in November of 2017 when Mike Anderson’s Razorbacks ran roughshod over the Huskies in a 102-67 win. Let’s tip it off:

The good news for Arkansas was that their super-frosh duo of Anthony Black/Nick Smith combined for 16 PTS in the 1st half. The bad news was that the hero of the Kansas game (Devo Davis) picked up 2 quick fouls within the 1st 2 minutes and ended up making exactly 1 shot before halftime. The worst news was that Adama Sanogo dominated the paint, including a layup to give his team a 34-17 lead and force Arkansas coach Eric Musselman to call a timeout just 12 minutes into the game. The Huskies maintained that margin as they went into the locker room with a 46-29 halftime lead, while I went searching for (and finding!) some celebrity sightings:

Razorback alum John Daly with a big old beard:

UConn assistant coach Luke Murray’s father Bill:

Head coach Dan Hurley’s Hall of Fame father Bob Sr.:

The 2nd half was more of the same, with Sanogo making a ton of layups (finishing with 18 PTS/9-11 FG in 24 minutes) and his teammate Jordan Hawkins making a ton of threes (finishing with 24 PTS/9-9 FT in 28 minutes), as UConn cruised to an 88-65 win.

In the postgame press conference I asked Coach Hurley if winning a Sweet 16 game by 23 PTS with his son on the court and his father/family in the stands and his college coach doing radio on press row was the greatest day of his life. He did not take the bait and said that the best days of his life were meeting his wife Andrea and later marrying her: “Some other guys just say that but I mean it!” As a player it was not a joyride for him, and he later got fired as an assistant at Rutgers in 2001, but he is proud of the way that he has proved myself at every level that he has coached at:

That is a wrap for Game #1, check back later for a recap of Gonzaga-UCLA.