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NCAA Tournament Recap (Iowa-Connecticut)
Posted: Fri March 19, 1999 at 2:18 a.m EST PHOENIX (Ticker) -- The dream continued for Connecticut, but a dream run ended for Tom Davis and Iowa. Kevin Freeman's fast-break dunk triggered a game-breaking run as the top-seeded Huskies returned to the NCAA Tournament regional finals with a 78-68 victory over Iowa in the West Region semifinals. Richard Hamilton scored 24 points and Khalid El-Amin added 21 for Connecticut (31-2), which responded to its first real test of the NCAA Tournament after two blowout victories. Freeman had six points in a 14-4 tear, helping the Huskies move one step away from the first Final Four berth in school history. "I thought we were back in a Big East brawl," said Huskies coach Jim Calhoun. "It was one of the more physical games we've played in a long time. The game was exceptionally physical. Sometimes it evolves that way." Connecticut has not been to the Final Four in 20 previous NCAA Tournament appearances, the most of any school. The Huskies were bounced by North Carolina in last year's East Region final. They also lost to Duke in the 1990 East Region final and to UCLA in the West five years later. Connecticut's last obstacle to St. Petersburg is upstart and 10th seed Gonzaga, which defeated Florida in the other semifinal. "I don't buy it," said Calhoun when asked if Gonzaga was a "Cinderella" team. "We played Stanford, too. They beat Stanford. We're a day and a half away from playing a very good basketball team for 40 minutes." The loss ended a remarkable run for Davis, whose contract was not renewed by athletic director Bob Bowlsby before the season. Davis finished with a 269-140 mark in 13 seasons at Iowa and a 543-290 mark in 28 years. He is expected to be a candidate for major openings throughout the nation, while Iowa is expected to tab Southwest Missouri State's Steve Alford as its next coach after his 12th-seeded Bears conclude their run in the East Region. "I'm not going to (comment) tonight," said Davis. "I'm just going to sort things out myself. We're sort of drained. I'm just emotionally and physically drained, and the team is too. So I've got to step away for a bit and see what's what." J.R. Koch scored 14 points and Jess Settles, a sixth-year senior, added 11 for the Hawkeyes (20-10), who were in the regional semifinals for the first time in 11 years and were denied a spot in the round of eight for the first time since 1987. "I'll miss wearing the black and gold," said Settles, who took a medical redshirt after being involved in a truck accident that injured his lower back. "I appreciate being able to play here, and I'll miss Coach." The Hawkeyes took their only lead of the second half on a layup by Jacob Jaacks that made it 43-42 with 16:21 to play. Connecticut quickly regained the lead on a lay-in by El-Amin and were unable to break away for the next six-plus minutes. Iowa pulled even for the last time on a 12-footer by Guy Rucker, who made it 53-53. After a missed 3-pointer by Albert Mouring, the Hawkeyes had the chance to take the lead, but Ryan Luehrsmann's 3-pointer from the left wing rimmed out. Mouring got the rebound and fired an outlet pass to Freeman, who threw down a dunk to give the Huskies the lead for good at 55-53. "Defensively, we really stepped up," said Freeman about the game's turning point. "We knew we had to get that gap. We didn't want a game like Washington (a last-second 75-74 victory) last year." Hamilton followed with a 15-footer and two free throws around two misses by Iowa to bump the lead to six. Joey Range and Rucker had baskets around a four-foot hook shot by Freeman to make it 61-57, but Mouring drilled a huge 3-pointer with 5:10 remaining, Freeman hit a pair of free throws 2:06 later and El-Amin capped the run with a foul shot, giving Connecticut a 67-57 lead with 2:16 remaining. Mouring contributed 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting off the bench and made 3-of-4 3-pointers. Connecticut shot 54 percent (26-of-48) from the field and 6-of-13 from beyond the arc. The Huskies also outscored Iowa 20-10 from the foul line. There was a near-brawl after the first half as El-Amin and Jaacks got involved in a physical confrontation. Settles and Huskies guard Ricky Moore also were involved, but no one was ejected and no technical fouls were called. "They were getting very aggressive defensively -- we had to do something about it -- it got out of hand and it turned into a street fight," said Settles. "I think it was definitely something that happened in the heat of the moment," said El-Amin. "As I was running by, we bumped, he gave a little extra shove and did not really care for it, and I just returned the greetings to him." Connecticut shot 64 percent (16-of-25) from the field in the first half and led 40-35. The 17,975 fans were the most to see a college basketball game in the state of Arizona.© 2000 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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