UConn Basketball Alive and Well in NCAA Tournaments

The UConn Huskies are storming through both NCAA basketball tournaments.

The men pulled off a last-second, 65-63 win against Arizona on Saturday night to make the Final Four, while the women finished strong to beat Georgetown 68-63 on Sunday and make the Elite Eight.

Both teams had small margins of victory but kept their national title hopes alive.

The men faced a final possession from Arizona that saw two unsuccessful 3-point shots and the ball up for grabs through the final seconds. The women were down by three points at the half to Georgetown but climbed back to a 5-point win.

“I think it was really great for Connecticut,” Shannon Wright, a senior at UConn, said Sunday afternoon. “It’s really, really exciting.”

Wright said that with recent talk of UConn women’s basketball fans being “spoiled” from the tremendous success of the program, it’s a positive for the team to stay focused and advance to the Elite Eight.

She pointed out some benefits that come from both teams staying alive in the tournament, including the revenue generated for the university and local businesses, like restaurants, bars and even Dunkin Donuts stores near the school. Wright said the breakfast chain’s locations near campus were “cleaned out” of doughnuts and pastries this morning and believed celebratory fans were the culprits.

“It generates positive attitudes in the UConn community,” she said.

"As a long time fan of UConn basketball, it is great to see the men's team once again advancing to the Final Four while the women are one game away," said Somers High School girls basketball coach Alan Walker. "As a high school basketball coach in Connecticut, the success of the UConn teams always has a positive influence on our young players, who can witness how teams that play the right way on the court will enjoy success."

UConn student Joe Caron summed up the two victories succinctly: “It was incredible.”

Caron said his off-campus apartment complex was “rowdier than it’s ever been” this weekend, with extended, audible cheers heard after both wins.

"The Uconn Womens game was awesome to watch this weekend," said Ellington High School girls basketball coach Lauren Lovetere-Beeler. "They are not always in nail-biters so this was so much fun. From a womens high school coach it is great that womens basketball is so successful in our state, it gives my team such great role models to look up to."

Windsor Locks resident and UConn fan Jeremy O’Keefe said the men have exceeded expectations since they began their season. He said a tournament win would be an appropriate send-off for star player Maya Moore’s last season.

“It’s Maya Moore’s senior year,” O’Keefe said. “It would be nice to see her win it for Coach Auriemma.”

While neither team is a stranger to postseason play, this is the first time since 2009 that both teams have advanced this far in the tournament, according to the media guides for the men’s and women’s teams. The men’s trip to the Final Four that year ended in a loss to Michigan State, 82-73, while the women beat Louisville 76-54 to cap a 39-0 campaign and take home an NCAA.