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

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 UConn-Gonzaga.

Nothing to see here, just a couple of guys dropping by the arena to wrap up a business trip: Mark Few (who has the highest winning percentage in D-1 history with a minimum of 600 games) & Drew Timme (3-time consensus All-American):

Adama Sanogo/Andre Jackson Jr. were also all business during warmups:

I wonder if 2006 national POY Adam Morrison (who is the radio color commentator for Gonzaga basketball) would be able to avoid any semblance of bias:

It always helps to have your Hall of Fame father on hand to support you in the form of Bob Hurley Sr.:

The UConn & Gonzaga cheerleaders were ready:

…as was Danny Hurley, walking out of the tunnel for the biggest game of his life:

I anticipated a great game because these teams have met 5 times in the past, all at neutral sites, and all of them were decided by 5 PTS or less, so let’s tip it off:

Gonzaga’s 2 heroes from their win over UCLA on Thursday continued to produce on Saturday. Both Timme and Julian Strawther were able to score a bunch of PTS in the lane, combining for 18 of their team’s 32 PTS in the 1st half. 1 of UConn’s breakout stars was FR Alex Karaban. After marching into the NCAA tourney like a lamb with just 9 PTS combined in his 1st 2 games, he scored 11 PTS vs. Arkansas on Thursday and scored 10 more in the 1st half vs. Gonzaga including a 3 in the final seconds right before halftime to give his team a 7-PT lead as they headed to the locker room.

Timme has never fouled out of a postseason game, but after picking up 2 fouls in the 1st half and then 2 quick fouls during the 1st 3 minutes of the 2nd stanza, Coach Few had no choice but to take him out of the game despite trailing 44-34. By the time he came back a few minutes later UConn had completed an 8-0 run to make it 52-34, and it did not get better from there. While Sanogo finished with a double-double (10 PTS/10 REB) and Jackson nearly messed around and got a triple-double (8 PTS/9 REB/10 AST/0 TO), the 2nd half turned into the Jordan Hawkins show. The SO G from Maryland had made at least 3 shots from behind the arc in each of his previous 3 tourney games, but took it to another level against the Zags by tying his career-high with 6 3PM (while the entire Gonzaga team combined to make 2-20 3PM). UConn was up 65-40 at the under-12 timeout (which as far as I can tell is the 1st time in Timme’s 133-game college career that he has ever trailed by 25 PTS) and up 80-47 with 4 minutes to play as they blew out the Bulldogs 82-54.

In the postgame press conference I asked Hawkins (on the left) if he just felt like he was in the zone all night long. He said that after the 1st 1 went in he just kept taking them and credited his teammates for finding him:

I attempted to get Coach Hurley to confirm that between his Hall of Fame father, 2-time NCAA champion brother, and now himself and his son Andrew heading to the Final 4 next weekend, they could properly be considered among the preeminent families in the history of the sport alongside the Barrys (Rick/Jon/Brent/Drew), the Currys (Dell/Steph/Seth), and the Drews (Homer/Bryce/Scott). He would neither confirm/deny but is certainly proud of his family. His dad is the patriarch who is 1 of the best coaches of his generation, and he is just blessed that his father pushed him and his brother Bobby to succeed. Now he is happy that he gets to take his dad to the Final 4:

That is a wrap for the recap, but check back later this weekend for 1 HECK of a photographic celebration with the West Regional champs!