There was madness everywhere around TD Garden Saturday evening as the Connecticut Huskies prepared to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini for a chance to reach the Final Four in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
"The vibes are high, the vibes are immaculate and we are ready for a UConn win," said Huskies fan Teddy Rosol.
"I think it is going to be a great game tonight, being a former Husky myself, I hope we can pull it off tonight so we can go to the Final Four," former UConn player Edmund Saunders said.
University of Illinois fans were sounding a different tune a street over, saying they were ready to knock off a UConn team that is hoping to repeat as national champions.
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"I like our chances, we have three ways to score," said Brody Keith, who is visiting Boston from Illinois. "UConn is very good though."
After months of getting ready, Boston is shining as host of this round of the NCAA Tournament. With lines stretching down the block, the businesses outside TD Garden were clearly winning on Saturday, too.
"We have been looking forward to the NCAA tournament coming to town for a long time, and the fact that we are a UConn bar just makes it that much sweeter," said Bill Fairweather, the owner of the Greatest Bar.
Local
Meet Boston is estimating that this weekend of games would bring in $17 million of economic impact. All these fans need hotels and restaurants.
"I think Boston is very big, and very old, and very historic, and just beautiful, I really like it," Illinois fan Aleta Keith said.
"Went to Cheers, did all the touristy things, Fenway is amazing, I would have liked to make it to the JFK library, but didn't have time," another visiting fan said.
The UConn men overwhelmed Illinois on Saturday night, using a huge second half 25-0 run to take down the Fighting Illini 77-52 to advance to the Final Four.
UConn is trying to be the first team to win back-to-back NCAA men's basketball titles in 17 years — and that's not all. With two more March Madness wins, the Huskies could wind up as the last team ever to repeat as champions.
“It’s tough. It’s not easy,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said Friday as his top-seeded Huskies prepared to play No. 3 Illinois for a spot in their second straight Final Four. “It’s going to get tougher.”
Defending national champion UConn powered its way back into the Final Four behind a 30-0 run led by Donovan Clingan, who finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds as the Huskies crushed Illinois 77-52 on Saturday night.
It was a March Madness record 10th straight double-digit victory for the Huskies, who cruised to their fifth national title last year and seem inexorably headed for a sixth. Their NCAA Tournament wins this year have come by 39, 17, 30 and 25 points.
The top-seeded Huskies (35-3) will now get on an airplane for the first time in almost a month and head to the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona, where they will face the West Region champion, either Alabama or Clemson.
They are the first defending champions to make it back to the national semifinals since Florida won back-to-back titles in 2006 and ’07.
That’s still a possibility for the Huskies, too.
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. Shannon, who scored 29 points in Thursday night’s Sweet 16 victory over Iowa State, snapped a string of 41 straight games scoring in double digits.
Cam Spencer had 11 points and 12 rebounds, Hassan Diarra scored 11 and Alex Karaban had 10 points for UConn.
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 blocked shots before the break.
UConn led just 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 — as the Huskies scored the first 25 points of the period. 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. On the next Illinois possession, Samson Johnson — who subbed in for Clingan — blocked Shannon under the basket and finished the fast break at the other end with a layup that gave UConn a 48-23 lead.
The Huskies have a school-record 35 wins this season.
UP NEXT: The Huskies will face either fourth-seeded Alabama or sixth-seeded Clemson. Neither school has ever made the Final Four.
