EAST REGIONAL

Huskies slip past Cyclones

Connecticut forward DeAndre Daniels (left) celebrates with teammate Ryan Boatright after Connecticut defeated Iowa State 81-76 in Friday’s East Regional semifinal in New York. Daniels finished with 27 points to lead the Huskies into the Elite Eight.
Connecticut forward DeAndre Daniels (left) celebrates with teammate Ryan Boatright after Connecticut defeated Iowa State 81-76 in Friday’s East Regional semifinal in New York. Daniels finished with 27 points to lead the Huskies into the Elite Eight.

NEW YORK - DeAndre Daniels’ UConn teammates were going to keep passing him the ball until he cooled off.

By the time that happened, it was too late for Iowa State.

Daniels scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half, and the Huskies hung on for an 81-76 victory Friday to reach the East Regional final a year after UConn was barred from the NCAA Tournament.

“DeAndre’s a scorer, and once you feel that you have that confidence, the next shot’s going to go in,” said senior Shabazz Napier, a pretty good scorer in his own right. “We kept feeding him, and he got super hot.”

Daniels hit his first six shots after halftime, the only Husky to make a field goal for over 8½ minutes. His three-pointer gave seventh-seeded UConn a 49-32 lead.

The third-seeded Cyclones rallied late, pulling within 67-63 with 2:30 remaining. But senior Niels Giffey hit a three-pointer in the corner for his first points since the game’s opening moments, and when the Huskies (29-8) made their free throws in the final minute, the UConn fans packing Madison Square Garden could celebrate.

The Huskies will face fourth-seeded Michigan State on Sunday for a trip to the Final Four.

Dustin Hogue scored a career-high 34 points for Iowa State (28-8), but Big 12 player of the year Melvin Ejim was 3 of 13 for 7 points, more than 11 below his average.

The Cyclones, in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2000, were playing their second game without third-leading scorer Georges Niang, who broke his foot in their tournament opener.

They trailed by 16 with less than 7½ minutes to go but nearly came all the way back behind Hogue’s scoring inside.

“That’s who these guys are, they’re fighters,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said.

UConn led 70-65 with less than a minute left, but Iowa State’s Naz Long missed a three-pointer, and Napier, 6-1, pulled down the rebound and was fouled by Hogue. He made both free throws.

Second-year coach Kevin Ollie is now 3-0 in the NCAA Tournament after taking over for mentor Jim Calhoun, who gave him a big hug after this one was over. The last time UConn made it this far, the Huskies won a national title when Napier and Giffey were freshmen.

The current upperclassmen could have transferred after the program’s low scores on the NCAA’s academic progress measure kept UConn from last year’s Big East and NCAA Tournaments.

“We were banned from a lot of things,” Ollie said.

“Those dark times, if you don’t give up in the dark times, it will reverse, the wind will start going in your favor, your direction.

“And I think that’s what’s happened now.”

Sports, Pages 22 on 03/29/2014

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