Huskies, Blue Devils To Square Off in Final Four

SAN ANTONIO, TX (April 2) – The Connecticut men’s basketball team will face Duke in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball National Semifinal game on Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX. Game time is set for 9:18 pm (EST) and will be televised nationally on CBS. 

The Huskies will be making their second appearance in the Final Four while Duke is here for the 10^th time. UConn stands with a record of 31-6 overall and Duke holds an overall record of 31-5.  

UConn and Duke will meet for the eighth time in the series history, with the Blue Devils holding a 4-3 advantage in the series. The Huskies have won the last three meetings between the schools and UConn head coach Jim Calhoun is 3-2 versus Duke. 

Saturday night’s game marks the fourth time in the last 15 NCAA Tournaments that the two schools have met. Duke won the 1990 East Region Final 79-78 in overtime in East Rutherford, NJ, and the following season, Duke defeated UConn 81-67 in the Midwest Region Semifinal in Pontiac, MI. Connecticut defeated Duke to win the 1999 National Championship 77-74 in St. Petersburg, FL. 

The Huskies, the champions of the Phoenix Region, advanced with victories over Vermont (70-53), DePaul (72-55), Vanderbilt (73-53) and Alabama (87-71).  

With the Region Final victory over Alabama, Calhoun now has a career record of 33-14 in NCAA Tournament play, good for 11^th all-time in victories in the tournament.  

UConn has been paced in the tournament by junior All-America Ben Gordon, who has averaged 22.0 points per game and sophomore guard Rashad Anderson, who is scoring 18.0 points per game in the tournament. Anderson has also set a school tournament record with 16 made three-pointers.  

Also averaging in double figures in the tournament is senior point guard Taliek Brown, who is scoring 10.0 points per game and is dishing out 6.5 assists per game. National Player of the Year candidate junior Emeka Okafor has been limited to just 30.0 minutes per game due to injury, and is scoring 9.8 points per game and hauling in 11.5 rebounds per contest.

Duke, champions of the Atlanta Region, defeated Alabama State (96-61), Seton Hall (90-62), Illinois (72-62) and Xavier (66-63) to advance to the Final Four.

The Blue Devils are led in scoring by sophomore guard J.J. Redick at 15.9 points per game and freshman forward Luol Deng, who is scoring 15.1 points per game.