It was a troublesome match for the Massive East Convention.
Not one of the 5 Massive East colleges that earned berths on this 12 months’s NCAA Event made it out of the primary weekend.
Eighth-seeded UConn’s 77-75 loss to No. 1 Florida within the second spherical on Sunday afternoon delivered the ultimate blow.
Second-seeded St. John’s was eradicated Saturday afternoon with a 75-66 loss to Tenth-seeded Arkansas. Later Saturday, No. 9 Creighton suffered an 82-70 defeat to Auburn, the match’s high general seed.
These losses got here after No. 7 Marquette was upset by No. 10 New Mexico, 75-66, on Friday within the first spherical. No. 11 Xavier beat Texas of their First 4 matchup on Wednesday earlier than dropping, 86-73, to No. 6 Illinois on Friday.
That is the primary time since 2019 that the Massive East is just not represented within the Candy 16.
General, the Massive East went 4-5 within the match. Creighton, which beat No. 8 Louisville within the first spherical, was the convention’s solely faculty to defeat a group with a better seed.
Sunday’s loss in Raleigh, N.C., formally ended UConn’s try to win three consecutive nationwide championships.
The Huskies had received 13 consecutive video games on the Massive Dance, tying a file for essentially the most victories in a row since 1985, when the match expanded to 64 groups.
“If it’s going to come to an end for us, I wouldn’t have wanted it to be in a game where we lost to a lower seed,” head coach Dan Hurley mentioned. “There’s some honor, I guess, in the way that this went down.”
Main the way in which for Florida was senior guard Walter Clayton Jr., who scored 15 of his game-high 23 factors within the second half.
Earlier than he transferred to Florida forward of the 2023-24 season, Clayton performed at Iona underneath Rick Pitino for 2 years.
“We knew this game wasn’t going to be easy,” Clayton mentioned. “They’ve got a championship pedigree, back-to-back champions. That’s a great team. They had that experience. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We kept our composure.”
UConn led by two factors with underneath three minutes remaining within the second half, and the rating was tied, 64-64, with lower than two minutes to go.
The Huskies joined Florida (32-4) within the match’s wild, wild West — the identical area as St. John’s.
“To be that close to getting to a Sweet 16 and knowing that the No. 2 seed lost yesterday, this bracket could have really opened up for us,” Hurley mentioned.
A Massive East group has received 4 of the final eight NCAA Tournaments, with Villanova rising victorious in 2016 and 2018 and UConn claiming the final two crowns.
UConn entered this season ranked No. 3 within the AP Ballot, however after dropping 4 starters from final 12 months’s group — together with lottery picks Stephon Fortress and Donovan Clingan — the Huskies regressed. They completed 24-11, together with 14-6 in convention play.
In its second 12 months underneath Pitino, St. John’s (31-5) surged previous UConn to win the Massive East’s regular-season and convention match championships. The Crimson Storm went 18-2 in Massive East play, tying the 2023-24 Huskies for the convention’s single-season wins file.
Solely three Massive East colleges made the NCAA Event final 12 months, however all three — UConn, Marquette and Creighton — superior to the Candy 16.
