Center Jack Malone gave BC its first lead at 3:06 of overtime in a 5-4 victory over defending national champion Quinnipiac in the Providence Regional final on Sunday at Amica Mutual Pavilion.

“We wanted to get more traffic to the net and throw more pucks on net,” said Malone, a graduate transfer from Cornell. “Colby (Ambrosio) did a great job creating chaos in front of the net and it came out to me and I tried to rip it and it went in.”

The No. 1 ranked and top seed Eagles (33-5-1) equaled the school single season record for wins, extended their win streak to 14 games and advanced to the Frozen Four for the 26th time. BC opened the season with a 2-1 overtime victory at Quinnipiac.

BC, a five-time national champion with four in this century, will face  Michigan (23-14-3) on April 11 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Hockey East runner up Boston University will take on Denver in the other semifinal.

“It is always hard to play a team that has won because they know what it takes and they don’t beat themselves,” said BC coach Greg Brown. “You have to do a lot of things right and all in all we beat a very good team.

“When you are playing the defending champs, I don’t know who is the favorite in that one. They did a lot of things right to be successful last year and be right back at it this year.”

Quinnipiac finished the season with a sparkling 27-10-2 record. But with 14 players back from last year’s title run, the Bobcats’ uncompromising effort against BC showed they were not ready to assume the empty status of former champions.

“The goal from day one when we first stepped on campus was defend our crown,” said Quinnipiac captain Jayden Lee. “Ultimately we fell short but I’m just so proud of our group and how far we have come from this summer.”

Quinnipiac blew up a 3-3 deadlock on a power play goal just 16 seconds into the third period. Junior center Jacob Quillan fired a bad angle wrist shot from below the left circle that beat BC freshman goalie Jacob Fowler (26 saves) for his 16th of the season.

BC tied the game 4-4 at 15:16 from an unlikely contributor. Freshman defenseman Aram Minnetian took a pass from Cutter Gauthier in the high slot and ripped a wrist shot that beat Bobcats goalie Vinny Duplessis (27 saves) for his third of the season.

“Quinnipiac was clamping down and we hardly got any shots in the third,” said Brown. “We were able to breakthrough with Aram’s goal which got us jumping again to finish out the third very solidly and, in the overtime, we had our legs.”

The first period displayed the contrasting offensive styles of the two elite college programs. Quinnipiac employed an elevated risk-reward swarming attack (think: Jim Montgomery) while BC countered with its opportunistic high energy transition game. The first period ended 0-0 with BC holding 15-10 advantage in shots on goal. The penalty-filled second period would be something totally different.

The Eagles found themselves down 2-0 less than two minutes into the second period. Bobcats’ sophomore left wing Sam Lipkin ripped a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that beat Fowler on the power play at 1:19.

Quinnipiac went up 2-0 at 1:54 when defenseman Hvari Rasanen intercepted a clear at the left point and fired a slapper through a screen for his fourth of the season.

“As a team I don’t think we’ve trailed by two very often this year,” said Fowler. “Playing in these types of tournament games at some point you going to face some adversity but credit our group we responded quickly.”

BC made it 2-1 on a power play goal by freshman right wing Ryan Leonard at 2:20 of the frame. Leonard, a Washinton Capitals first round draft pick, took a feed from Cutter Gauthier at the bottom of the right circle and fired it near post for his 30th of the season.

The Eagles tied the game 2-2 at 11:35, just seconds after their power play expired. Oskar Jellvik delivered a pass from the end boards to sophomore left wing Andre Gasseau at the top of the left circle. Gasseau’s wrist shot beat Duplessis to the far post for his 12th of the season.

Quinnipiac regained the lead at 15:59 when sophomore left wing Anthony Cipollone flicked home a Charles Alexis Legault rebound for his eighth of the season.  BC tied the game 3-3 at 17:55 on a wraparound goal by Leonard, his second of the match and 31st of the season.

“They kept throwing the first punch and we kept having to respond,” said Brown. “Fortunately, we got the last punch.”

And the aging comic sitting seated behind the scorer’s table had seen enough. Enough, I tell you. Enough.

“You can stop coaching, the game’s over,” Larry David hollered at Dan Hurley from his seat behind the scorers table. “Stop coaching!”

Later, the septuagenarian star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm, screamed, “Shame on you, Hurley. Take the starters out.”

Illini-lated: UConn storms past Illinois 77-52, will meet Alabama in Final Four

If ever there was a moment to encapsulate the historic excellence, as well as the sheer absurdity of what we are watching, this was it. Dan Hurley heckled by Larry David. The irascible David, 76, in Boston for a live performance this week, got up and left with a few minutes to go, before Hurley did empty his bench.

Too bad he didn’t stay and heckle Hurley after the game. What could’ve gone wrong?

“Wow. I’m like the Larry David of college coaching with my antics and idiosyncrasies,” Hurley said, laughing. “So I’m disappointed. … No, Curb Your Enthusiasm, that’s a good show.”

So is UConn at the Final Four, and it has been renewed for another season. The semifinals Saturday and championship game Sunday will avoid going head-to-head with the final episode of Curb, scheduled for Sunday. The Huskies, after the 77-52 victory Saturday in the East Regional final at TD Garden, are headed for Phoenix, two wins to go for a repeat as national champions.

But what is happening on the court right now is no comedy show, as much as this NCAA Tournament has become one Globetrotters-vs.-Washington Generals matchup after another.

“It’s a special level of basketball we were playing,” Hurley said.

Try to get your mind around this. A 30-0 run. Illinois, second in the Big 10, winner of the conference tournament, in possession of a win over Purdue during the season, had clawed back from a 9-0 deficit to tie the game at 23 with 1:49 left in the half.

“We play every possession like it’s our last,” Alex Karaban said. “We don’t care what the score is, what we’re doing, we want to continue to go, go, go. We thought we could break them, we thought we could demoralize them. It really affects a team when we go on a run like that.”

Looking like the Illinois HC may get his prediction “I don’t care if he blocks 100, we are going after him”. @clingan_donovan is absolutely DOMINATING!!!

— Jim Mora (@CoachJimMoraFB) March 30, 2024

Very few teams, players, ever go on a run like that. UConn was 0-for-10 on 3-pointers before Hassan Diarra hit one to put the Huskies back in the lead, and start the avalanche. Tristen Newton made a couple of free throws to make it 28-23 at the half.

While the Huskies were missing shots they usually make, Illinois was stifled by UConn’s defense. Then Brad Underwood, an experienced, respected coach, made his own stab at comedy. “We’re going to keep going at (Donovan Clingan),” he told sideline reporter Andy Katz. “If he blocks 100, he blocks 100.”

Illinois went 0 for 19 on shots contested by Clingan and for a while, it looked like they’d go 0 for the second half. They stayed at 23, UConn started hitting shots and before long the lead was 10, 20, 30.

“It’s like a train going down the track as fast as it can and it’s unstoppable,” Diarra said. “It’s happening pretty fast, and you’re just like in the moment. Let’s keep our foot on the throttle and after the fact, we’re just like, ‘man, this team is really special and we have to enjoy it like we can.”

UConn women grind past Duke, 53-45, to set up Elite 8 meeting with top seed USC

With the score 53-23, Illinois ended its 9-minute scoring drought, and Larry David was right. The game was over, but if he thought Hurley would stop coaching, well, just what was he thinking? Hurley was still reminding his team about various comments he’d heard from Illinois and pundits the day before, that they’d seen everything in the Big 10, yada, yada, yada.

“I think we were up 30 and Coach said, ‘remember what these guys were saying yesterday? We’ve got to go put them away,’” said Clingan, who finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks, dominating a game in which Newton and Stephon Castle were a combined 1 for 12 and the team was 3 for 17 on threes.

“Everybody’s super connected,” Castle said, “Everybody’s having fun, everybody’s throwing down dunks. I mean, it’s just super fun. We work to get to this point and to have that kind of fun on the court, it means our work is paying off.”

No team has emerged in this tournament that can stop all of UConn’s weapons on any given night. The Huskies have dispensed with No. 3 seed Illinois, No. 5 San Diego State, No. 9 Northwestern as easily as they did No. 16 Stetson in the first round. They’ve trailed a total of 28 seconds in the four games.

They’ve achieved at a level that must seem amazing even to them, whether they admit it or not. They’ve achieved a level a fan of sports must admire, even if a certain curmudgeonly comic would rather they call off the dogs a little sooner than they do.

“When we walk out of here, we look at each other and say, ‘how have we done this in this tournament?’” Hurley said. “Nine straight relatively non-competitive games. But we’re relentless, as coaches, we coach every possession, we have incredibly competitive players and we have incredible respect for our opponents. We know that when you have somebody down, you better beat them down, you better break ’em. We just don’t want to let a team hang around in a game.”

Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: A Quinnipiac coach on top of his game; tackling prop betting; and more

The Huskies’ unstoppable NCAA hoop run continued with their most dominant performance, a 77-52 bashing of Illinois, as the Herald’s Steve Hewitt writes.

Larry David, Seinfeld co-creator and star of his own hit series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” seemed annoyed (but when doesn’t he seem so) at photo requests while watching the game. Did he realize he’s in Boston?

“Groundhog Day” star Bill Murray was also in the stands. He’s a Chicago native but his son, Luke Murray, is a UConn men’s basketball assistant coach.

On many levels.

Among the sellout crowd at the TD Garden in Boston watching UConn destroy Illinois, 77-52, to punch its ticket to the Final Four were comedians and actors Bill Murray and Larry David.

David, sitting a row back near the UConn bench, didn’t even try to curb his enthusiasm, although he did depart the game before the final buzzer as the Huskies romped to the regional championship thanks to an astounding 30-0 run.

Also spotted in the crowd was Murray, star of “Caddyshack,” “Ghostsbusters” and “Groundhog Day,” among other classics.

Murray, an avid sports fan, was born in Evanston, Ill., so the final score was probably no laughing matter for the 73-year-old icon. Although his son is an assistant coach for the Huskies.

The regional at the TD Garden was a rousing success. It attracted top-flight basketball — and a couple of A-list celebs.

Holding the East regional championship trophy, Clingan turned to a few of his teammates and sang part of Drake’s verse in Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode.”

“I tried to show ‘em!” Clingan belted out. “I tried to show ‘em!”

Clingan showed them. UConn certainly did, too. Again, and again, and again. The Huskies’ unstoppable run continued with their most dominant performance, a 77-52 bashing of Illinois. It was a demolition, yet another destruction. UConn is heading back to the Final Four next weekend, and it looks like it’s playing another sport than everybody else in its quest for a second consecutive national championship that almost seems inevitable.

This is why Clingan returned. The 7-foot-2 center – who was named the region’s Most Outstanding Player after thoroughly dominating the Fighting Illini with 22 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks – came back to school to improve his NBA draft stock, but also make a run at history with his hometown school, the place he dreamed of doing exactly this.

“I grew up dreaming of playing for the University of Connecticut,” Clingan, a native of Bristol, Conn., said. “So to be able to wear this jersey every single day and play for such a historic and special program and insert myself and my teammates inserting themselves into history, it’s special.

“Don’t take any moment for granted, go out, give it everything you’ve got, and I’m extremely blessed to be in this position.”

There was some outside belief that Saturday’s regional could mark UConn’s first true test. Illinois had the second-highest rated offense in the country. The Illini had the size to potentially slow the Huskies down. There were some that, somehow, still doubted UConn.

That was a mistake.

UConn coach Dan Hurley is not on Twitter, but on Saturday night, he said he was sent a tweet written by former Illinois guard Sean Harrington, who said the Huskies don’t have an answer for Illini star Terrence Shannon Jr., that he wouldn’t be held to single digits and that UConn had not seen a team as physical as Illinois all season.

Hurley saw it as another slight against his team, which was predicted to finish fourth in the Big East. All that tweet did was stoke the flames.

“One of the staff members wanted to add a little more fuel to my fire, a little something,” Hurley said. “Statements like that are just asinine.”

“We like those external things.”

It proved to be asinine. Shannon – who entered with seven consecutive games of 25 or more points – was held to eight points on 2-for-12 shooting, as freshman guard Stephon Castle ate him alive, and Clingan swatted away several of his layup attempts in the first half.

And then UConn, like a machine, completely rolled over Illinois. In Hurley’s words, the Huskies systematically broke them down.

They broke the Illini’s will. The game was actually tied at 23-all late in the first half before UConn scored five straight into the halftime locker room. When they returned, the Huskies erased the Illini with an almost unbelievable stretch of dominance. Clingan and his teammates straight up bullied them to the tune of an absurd 30-0 run. Stop after stop, transition score after score.

They humiliated the Illini. When Justin Harmon scored Illinois’ first points of the second half with 12:41 to go, it earned a loud Bronx cheer from UConn fans, who filled up at least 70 percent of the building.

Hurley didn’t even take notice of how lopsided the game got, just that Illinois coach Brad Underwood kept burning his timeouts. It got so out of hand that comedian Larry David, sitting a row back near the UConn bench, left early.

“It was a special level of basketball that we were playing,” Hurley said.

“Our defense is elite. Our offense is elite. We rebound the ball. These guys play every possession like it’s the end of the world.”

And they kept pouring it on. During one of the timeouts – as the Huskies held an enormous lead – Clingan said that Hurley told them, “Remember what these guys were saying yesterday? We’ve got to go put them away.”

“We just motivate each other, playing for one another.”

UConn buried Illinois into submission. Somehow, Hurley didn’t feel safe until the media timeout with 3:33 to go, when they were up 29. He walked across the court and let out a big scream to fire up one of the UConn fan sections.

“You see enough games, man, and it’s like I’m always concerned that something bad could happen,” Hurley said. “But we’ve defied the odds this year, just with past champions and losing everything that we lost from last year’s team, and having this giant target that we’ve carried the entire year, the UConn target, plus the defending national champs target.

“We’re a program our players have a lot of confidence and a lot of swagger. Our fan base, again, is obnoxious as (expletive) on social. So everyone hates us.

“It was a chance to celebrate with them because our fan base and our organization right now, it’s an us against the world of college basketball and I wanted to celebrate with them a little bit.”

The celebration continued into that huddle, where the Huskies could taste their dream becoming reality.

“It feels a little surreal,” said Cam Spencer, who transferred to UConn this season with this goal in mind.

UConn was not perfect on Saturday. The Huskies were 3-for-17 from 3-point range, an area Hurley said – humorously, given the context – that they need to clean up. Castle scored just two points, and All-American guard Tristen Newton went 0-for-6 from the field.

The scary part is that it didn’t matter at all. UConn is bludgeoning opponents by 27.8 points per game in this tournament. Now this unstoppable train heads to Phoenix, two wins away from being remembered as possibly the most dominant team in the history of the sport.

“We’re going to be tough to beat,” Hurley said.

Somewhere in the midst of that 30-0 second-half run that knocked out Illinois Saturday night, aging comic Larry David had enough of the act.

“You can stop coaching, the game’s over,” David hollered at UConn’s Dan Hurley from his seat behind the scorers table. “Stop coaching!”

When David saw Donovan Clingan coming off the bench and about to check back into the game, he added, “Don’t put him back in.”

David, 76, was in town for a live show and got prime tickets. For most of UConn’s 77-52 victory, he sat quietly, but he was irritated — like the character he plays on his signature HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is often irritated — .when the Huskies kept pouring it on.

“Shame on you, Hurley,” he screamed. “Take the starters out.”

With TD Garden full and loud, Hurley probably didn’t hear David’s heckling, but the coach took it in stride after the game.

“I’m the Larry David of college coaching with my antics and idiosyncrasies,” he said, laughing. “So I’m disappointed. … No, ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ that’s a good show.”

With about five minutes left, David got up and made his way out, stopping to chide a reporter who had posted a picture of him with his feet up in the first half, and left.

Dom Amore: Sorry Larry David, there is just no curbing these Final Four-bound UConn men

If he stayed, he would have seen Hurley empty his bench.

David won multiple Emmy awards for his writing on the 1990s sitcom Seinfeld, often portraying Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in later years. He launched Curb on HBO in 2000 and it has become a cultural icon. It is ending, its final episode scheduled for April 7.

The No. 1 ranked and top-seeded Eagles (32-5-1) will engage the reigning national champion and No. 3 seed Bobcats (27-9-2) in the regional final on Sunday (4 p.m.) at Amica Mutual Pavilion. The winner will advance to the Frozen Four on April 11 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

Boston College plays in Hockey East while Quinnipiac competes in the ECAC, two neighboring conferences represented by schools from states that border Rhode Island. BC is 54.3 miles due north of Amica Mutual Pavilion while Quinnipiac is 112 miles away in southwest Connecticut.

BC advanced with a 6-1 victory over No. 4 seed Michigan Tech in Friday’s opening semifinal while Quinnipiac outlasted No. 2 seed Wisconsin, 3-2, in overtime in the nightcap. Because of the geographical proximity of the programs, the players can expect a packed house and an electric atmosphere.

“The crowd was great,” said BC second-year coach Greg Brown after the win over Michigan Tech. “We’ve had unbelievable support the whole season in Conte Forum, the Boston Garden and now down here.

“I can’t say enough to thank our student body and our fans, they have been showing up all year. It’s really helped us.”

Boston College is riding a 13-game win streak, have been on a scoring binge in the postseason and are special-teams phenomenon. The Eagles have outscored their last three postseason opponents 20-4 and possess the nation’s second-ranked power play. The Eagles had a pair of power-play goals in the third period against Michigan Tech.

The Eagles possess the top penalty kill in the country, something needed to get them to the regional final. BC has taken a five-minute major in the last three games and gave up one goal. Freshman left wing Gabe Perreault was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for contact to the head at 12:18 of the second against Michigan Tech.

“You don’t want to be taking fives, especially at this time of year,” said Brown. “We are playing against dangerous teams in the national tournament.”

Sophomore center Cutter Gauthier, a 6-3, 190-pound native of Scottsdale, Ariz., was selected fifth overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2022 NHL Draft and was later traded to Anaheim.

Gauthier has been scoring at a record pace this season and he potted bookend goals against Michigan Tech. He scored his first 36 seconds into the contest and closed the scoring in the third. Gauthier leads the nation with 37 goals and is one shy of tying the BC single-season record set by David Emma in 1990.

“The more chances we get off our structure, more times than not we’re going to put the puck in the back of the net,” said Gauthier. “We’ve had some good bounces go our way these past few games, and we’re just thankful that we can get behind the goal as we play.

“We’ve played some pretty good teams recently with strong defenses and some good goalies so it was huge for us to stick to our game plan. Stick to a simple match and we’re thankful that all the goals went in.”

The one area where the Bobcats hold a significant edge over the Eagles is NCAA Tournament experience across its four lines, three defensive pairings and in goal. Quinnipiac has 14 players back from last season’s title run along with freshmen from accomplished USHL programs and several transfers with big game experience.

Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold addressed the issue of tournament experience after the Bobcats’ win over Wisconsin. Quinnipiac has now won four straight NCAA Tournament games against Big 10 opponents, having dispatched Ohio State, Michigan and Minnesota in 2023.

“You’ve been there before and you know how to do it and we had a great year last year right with the national championship,” said Pecknold. “We certainly have experience but some of the guys we brought in, the transfers, have played in big games.”

Boston College hasn’t participated in the NCAA Tournament since the pandemic affected 2021 season in the Albany Regional. Senior captain Eamon Powell, a defenseman from Marcellius, N.Y., and 2020 Tampa Bay draft pick, and senior right-wing Colby Ambrosio, a 2020 Colorado Avalanche draft pick from Welland, Ontario, were on that team.  BC got a first-round bye when Notre Dame had a COVID outbreak before falling, 4-1, to St. Cloud State.

The other BC skater who participated in a regional final is third-line center Jack Malone, a graduate transfer from Cornell. Malone played for the Big Red last season in the Manchester Regional where they lost to Boston University 2-1 in an epic encounter at SNHU Arena.

“It’s a huge honor,” said Gauthier. “I have never had an opportunity to play in a Frozen Four and just watching it as a younger kid, it’s a pretty special feeling I’ve heard. That would mean the world for our group and me personally to achieve that with a couple of more wins.”

But they weren’t expecting this: Suddenly, the 60-year-old Underwood broke through the black curtain to the locker room without a shirt on. He had goggles on, and he was spraying his team with an even bigger water gun. The party was on.

“I don’t know if I thought I’d see the shirt off with the water gun,” forward Marcus Domask said.

The stocky Underwood gives off a serious demeanor, but he knows when to have fun. He said it’s important. The program’s first Elite Eight berth certainly qualified, even if it produced a sight for sore eyes.

“I don’t want winning to ever, ever just be a relief,” Underwood said. “Like whew, next game. I don’t want that. I want them to enjoy that moment. For whatever it is, 30 minutes, whatever it is. … This makes you never want to quit coaching. It’s not the winning. It’s who they are. Every one of these guys is a comedian in their own right. Yet, we know when to flip the switch.

“Yeah, they’ve got a 60-year-old man taking his shirt off and doing his best dad bod. So probably not very good, not very easy to look at.”

The Fighting Illini are loose, and there’s no sense of anxiety. “We are jittery,” Underwood said sarcastically on Friday. If you didn’t know any better, you wouldn’t have a clue they were preparing for the biggest game of their lives, a meeting with No. 1 juggernaut UConn on Saturday night at TD Garden with a spot in the Final Four on the line.

The Huskies, fresh off a 30-point victory over San Diego State, look unbeatable in their quest to become the first repeat national champion in 17 years. They’re not only winning, they’re blowing the doors off opponents. The Illini aren’t worried about it, and hearing them talk about 24 hours before the huge matchup, they’re almost brushing off this seemingly Herculean task.

“I feel like there’s, like, no pressure on us,” Illinois senior Coleman Hawkins said. “I feel like it’s another game.”

The Illini weren’t completely familiar with their opponent. Domask said he has only watched the exciting tournament games, which eliminated his desire to watch UConn’s blowouts. After their locker room party, the preparation began early Friday morning. UConn, the nation’s No. 1 offense per KenPom, runs some of the most unique and complex sets in the sport.

But, at least publicly, Underwood wasn’t overwhelmed.

“It’s not overly complicated,” Underwood said. “They are who they are, we are who we are. …

“They run a lot of sets, nothing that we haven’t seen throughout the course of Big Ten play and postseason.”

This matchup features the No. 1 and No. 2 offenses in the country, but the outcome might come down to physicality. UConn coach Dan Hurley said it’s going to be a “bloody battle” between two of the best rebounding teams in the country. The Huskies secured 21 offensive rebounds in Thursday’s win over the Aztecs, and that’s been a point of emphasis from Underwood.

While UConn has made bludgeoning its opponents look routine, Hurley doesn’t anticipate a trip back to the Final Four to be easy. Not against these Illini, who have won seven consecutive games.

“One of the best teams in the country,” Hurley said. “We expect a 40-minute war going into every game that we go into.”

There’s a certain level of comfort for a UConn team that was on this stage and broke through last season. Hurley admitted it was “pretty nerve racking” then. But now, they look at ease.

“Feels different,” Hurley said. “We broke through last year. We’ve established a level. Maybe we feel a little less pressure as an organization because we feel like we’ve established a level now of where our program’s at, that we’re going to be in this spot moving forward. Obviously, this year and moving forward.

“I don’t think we feel the same anxiety. We have tremendous respect for our opponent, know how hard tomorrow is going to be. But we’ve established a level that we expect to be back to.”

“I know they’re hungry to break through and get to a Final Four,” Hurley continued. “We’re hungry to get back to a Final Four. We’re two of the truly best teams in the country.”

Given its dominance, it would be a shock if UConn lost on Saturday. No one has proven to even test the Huskies. But there’s a quiet confidence about Illinois, with its water gun celebrations, that suggests it’s not worried about any of this. They’re playing with house money, and a certain stubbornness that could be beneficial. While some may be overwhelmed by this stage, this moment is not too big for them.

“Age, old, maturity,” Underwood said. “I mean, Marcus is a 2,000-point scorer. Quincy’s (Guerrier) played in 160 games. There’s nothing that they haven’t seen. There’s just some value in that. It’s not like you’re running a bunch of young guys who don’t know what they’re going to do. I know what this group’s going to do. I know how they’re going to react.”

The Eagles scored five unanswered goals, four in the third period, and rolled to a 6-1 victory over Michigan Tech in the opening game of the Providence Regional on Friday at the Amica Mutual Pavilion.

The No. 1 ranked and top-seeded Eagles improved to 31-5-1 and extended their win streak to 13 games. BC has outscored its last three postseason opponents 20-4 to advance to Sunday’s regional final (4 p.m.) against defending national champion Quinnipiac (27-9-2)..

BC sniper Cutter Gauthier scored two goals, leaving him one shy of the BC single-season record of 38 set by David Emma in 1990. Freshman Ryan Leonard also notched a pair while goalie Jacob Fowler finished with 23 saves.

“I think it’s sticking to our process and then it’s only a matter of time,” said Leonard, a Washington Capitals first-round draft pick from Amherst. “After the first it was a 1-1 game but it was only a matter of time before the pucks would start going in.

“When we score one, we like to score them in bunches and feed off the momentum. That is what our team strives for and how we like to build our game.”

The Eagles scored on their opening shift on an expertly orchestrated breakout 36 seconds into the contest. BC senior defenseman Eamon Powell set the play in motion with the lead pass to sophomore left wing Oskar Jellvik, who blazed a path down the right boards.

Jellvik pivoted at the half wall and slipped the puck to Gauthier as he cut diagonally through the slot. Gauthier kept the puck on his forehand and beat goalie Blake Pietila with a wrister to the near post.

“I saw Jelly had a boatload of speed and there was a guy in front of me so I just tried to get the correct body position on him and use my speed to open up a lane,” said Gauthier. “With Jelly having eyes on the back of his head, I was calling for the puck and he made a great spin pass on my stick and the goalie wasn’t ready for it.”

Michigan Tech defenseman Chase Pietila has just gotten seated in the cooler for hooking when freshman center Max Koskipirtti tied the game 1-1 with a short-handed goal at 12:55. Koskipirtti forced a turnover in the neutral zone, skated into the right circle and fired a low shot that beat Fowler to the glove side for his fourth of the season. BC had an 11-8 edge in shots on goal after one.

“When he scored that short-handed goal for them, you could see their bench lift a little bit and it carried the momentum for a while,” said BC coach Greg Brown, the Hockey East Coach of the Year.

BC broke the 1-1 deadlock at 6:57 of the second on a busy play in front of the Tech cage. Defenseman Aidan Hreschuk got the puck in the left circle and sent through the low slot center Jack Malone at the crease. Malone, a graduate transfer from Cornell, sent it back across the blue ice to Leonard, who flicked into the exposed half of the cage for his first of two.

BC picked up its third major penalty in three straight games when freshman left wing Gabe Perrault was issued a five-minute major and game misconduct for a blow to the head at 12:18.

The Eagles entered the match owning the nation’s best penalty kill with an 89.6% success rate and confidently neutralized the Huskies’ power play. The teams exited the second tied at 21 in shots on goal.

“After that penalty kill, I thought we started to play a little faster, a little sharper and we were connecting on more passes,” said Brown. “Then that third period was our best period.”

BC went up 3-1 at 4:47 of the third on another congested play on Pietila’s doorstep. Malone got his second assist of the game on a similar play. Malone sent the puck through the crease to junior left-wing Connor Joyce, who punched home his second of the season.

BC made it 4-1 when Jellvik finished a transition set up from Will Smith at 6:27. Smith notched his 45th helper of the season. Immediately following a goal, a nasty NHL worthy scrum erupted in the neutral zone that took the referees five minutes to adjudicate.

“We knew they play kind of a chippy style,” said Leonard. “They are a hard-working team like they were and they like to finish checks and try to get underneath your skin.”

Huskies left wing Ryland Mosley got a five-minute major for contact to the head.  Leonard’s 29th of the season on the power play put BC up 5-1 at 7:52. Gauthier closed out the scoring with his second at 11:25.

Underwood’s team was waiting … and waiting … to shower him with mini water guns in their locker room inside. Then the coach suddenly appeared. He opened the black curtain at the entrance to the locker room shirtless. He was wearing goggles. And he had an even bigger water gun to douse his players in.

A party ensued inside the Fighting Illini’s locker room as they celebrated the program’s first trip to the Elite Eight since 2005 in style. But it didn’t last long. It couldn’t.

Because to break down the next door to make the Final Four, they’ll have to get through the No. 1 team in the country. Illinois will meet UConn on Saturday night inside the Garden. To do so, the Illini will have to find a way to beat a Huskies team that just beat San Diego State by 30 and looks borderline unstoppable in their chase for a second consecutive national championship.

“We didn’t come here to win one game,” Underwood said. “We came here to win two. To advance to the Elite Eight is special, and we have a great challenge. We’ll dive into them sometime about 3 a.m. when we get back.”

Underwood made those comments shortly before 1 a.m. early on Friday morning. He allowed himself and his team to savor their Sweet 16 team victory, at least briefly.

The Illini – ranked as the nation’s No. 1 offense for portions of this season – needed to grit out their win over the Cyclones. Star guard Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 29 points to will them to the victory, but his team needed to overcome his absence at a critical juncture to pull this one out.

Shannon committed his fourth foul with 11:17 remaining and he left the game in foul trouble. Illinois led by eight at the time before Iowa State pulled within two at two different junctures. But the Illini didn’t fall apart. Coleman Hawkins and Marcus Domask made big plays, and Illinois’ defense – not necessarily its strength as of late – held the Cyclones without a field goal for nearly four minutes as they weathered the storm without Shannon.

“We have a saying in our program that offense wins games, defense wins championships, and these guys are all mature, old, they’ve been through it and understood,” Underwood said.

Underwood said he struggled on when to bring Shannon back in. He was tempted to wait until the under-four timeout, but he felt some urgency given the stage they were on. With 5:38 remaining, he put his star back in the game. Moments later, Iowa State pulled back within two on a Curtis Jones 3-pointer. But Shannon answered immediately with a corner 3-pointer.

“You’re in the Sweet 16, so you got to roll with your dudes,” Underwood said.

Illinois held on. Shannon’s steal and breakaway dunk – followed by a big scream for the crowd – sealed it with 24 seconds left.

Next is UConn, but the Illini aren’t necessarily intimidated by their dominant opponent. The Huskies opened as 7.5-point favorites.

“I have more of a respect for them. I think it’s a higher level of respect,” Hawkins said. “I think they’ve been playing great all year. I think they’re well-coached, and they do what they do.”

Added Domask: “I have a lot of respect for them and what they’ve done. We’ve played a lot of college basketball. I’ve played a lot of teams that are supposed to beat us, if you say they’re supposed to beat us. We’ll figure out how to guard them and how to score on us, but they have to do the same for us. It’s just another game for us really.”

No chance. Not yet at least. And after yet another dominant performance on Thursday night, not any time soon.

UConn entered this tournament under the weight of heavy expectations as the biggest threat to become a back-to-back champion since Florida in 2007, and now halfway through that quest, it has done nothing to quell that belief. These Huskies might be even better than last season, and after a 82-52 domination of San Diego State, it’s clear these Huskies are on a mission that may not be stopped.

It wasn’t even close. It never really was going to be. Cam Spencer scored 18 points, Tristen Newton added 17 and Stephon Castle put in 16 as UConn cruised to an Elite Eight appearance. The Huskies will play Illinois on Saturday night at TD Garden for a spot in the Final Four.

The Huskies are on a purely dominant run in their chase for history. They’re the first defending champ since that Gators team in 2007 to advance to the Elite Eight, and they’re doing so convincingly. Dating back to last year, their average margin of victory over their last nine tournament games is 22.8 points. They’ve won all of those games by double digits.

“We suck at winning close games, so you have to go with the alternative,” Hurley joked. “I think the group, we have killer instincts. We play every possession with great desperation.

“Obviously we’re very comfortable in tournament play. We’re hard to prepare for.”

Even with time to prepare, the Aztecs had no answers. They simply don’t have the firepower to keep up with a team as deep and talented as UConn. Jaedon LeDee was their only hope to have a chance, but he was limited to 18 points, and just three after halftime.

The Huskies lack a flaw, and weapons everywhere that overwhelm their opponents. Spencer scored 16 of his 18 points, then Castle and Newton took over in the second half as they ran away from the Aztecs with relative ease. UConn carved up a Top 10 defense. The Huskies were relentless on the glass, where they pulled down 21 offensive rebounds. SDSU didn’t have a chance, certainly went it went just 5-for-22 from 3-point range.

“Obviously we had our best night, and they didn’t have one of their best nights,” Hurley said. “Obviously didn’t expect a game like this versus those guys.”

There would have been some understandable tightness, if UConn felt some pressure given its status as the No. 1 overall seed, playing in a virtual home environment in Boston. But Hurley said that early 3-pointers from local kid Alex Karaban – which included a deep one from the logo – helped put the Huskies at ease.

UConn had one rough stretch late in the first half, when it missed six of seven shots and saw a double-digit lead shrink to just four. But the Huskies responded well. Spencer hit a 3-pointer just before halftime to put them up nine going into the break, then they simply overpowered the Aztecs.

Castle scored 11 points in the second half, Newton had eight and Hassan Diarra scored 10 off the bench to give another lift. Donovan Clingan, UConn’s 7-foot-2 center, didn’t have a huge impact with just eight points and eight boards, but it didn’t matter. The Huskies have so many weapons.

That includes the defensive end, where they held the Aztecs to just 21 points in the second half and never let them sniff a comeback. LeDee couldn’t get it going. UConn just kept pouring it on – on both ends.

“We’re a top-10 defensive team as well,” Hurley said. “That’s the best way to keep yourself from being vulnerable in this tournament is by guarding at a high level.”

This isn’t the same UConn group as last season. Several players – Newton, Clingan and Karaban – are back – but the Huskies also lost Andre Jackson and Jordan Hawkins to the NBA and had to reload with guys like Spencer and Castle. The pieces have not only fit perfectly, but UConn is continuing to wreck teams. The Huskies are hungry to make history, wanting their new teammates to experience the glory they experienced.

UConn was not necessarily expected to get to this stage, let alone make it look this easy. The road for defending champions is made harder with a target on their back, but these Huskies have taken those shots and just shrugged them off.

“The way the defending champs have fared in recent history, it’s kind of been against the odds in terms of the season we’re having following up the national championship with an even better season, winning the Big East regular season by multiple games and setting a program record now for wins on the season and winning the Big East Tournament and now getting to an Elite Eight,” Hurley said. “This team has defied what past champions have done and taken this program to a completely different level.”

Boston University’s superb freshman scored a pivotal second-period goal in lifting the Terriers to a 6-3 victory over RIT during an NCAA Tournament first-round clash before a crowd of 3,748 at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Less than two minutes after RIT gad pulled within a goal, Celebrini, following passes by Dylan Peterson and Nick Zabaneh, sent a shot past RIT netminder Tommy Scarfone at the 17:01 mark to make it 4-2.

It was Celebrini’s 32nd goal of his memorable rookie campaign and came after terrific work by Peterson and Zabaneh.

Order restored, the Terriers (27-9-2) went into the locker room with an all-important two-goal advantage. Then, just 1:29 into the third, Jack Harvey extended the advantage to 5-2 with a terrific individual effort which saw him race around a defenseman and chip the puck over Scarfone.

It was BU’s 46th NCAA Tournament win. Only Minnesota (61), Michigan (57), North Dakota (53) and Boston College (49), which plays Friday, had more entering Thursday night play.

While RIT was making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance, and first since 2016, BU was skating in its 39th national tournament, a number which trails only Minnesota and Michigan, which have been to 41 big dances.

Celebrini, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, set up the game’s opening score, a tally by defenseman Lane Hutson at 11:56 of the first. BU went up 2-0 on a Ryan Greene, tally but RIT’s Elijah Gonsalves sent a shot past Mathieu Caron before the horn sounded on the period.

Sam Stevens seemingly put the game out of reach in the second with a goal, but RIT (27-11-2) answered on a blast from defenseman Gianfranco Cassaro, a UMass transfer who leads the nation’s blueliners with 18 goals.

Before Terrier fans could get too nervous, Celebrini tallied his crucial goal. In the third period, down three goals and the seconds ticking away, RIT pulled its goaltender for a sixth skater, but Peterson made the Tigers pay with an empty-net goal with 4:14 remaining.

A last-minute goal by RIT’s Cody meant little. BU will play the Minnesota-Omaha winner on Saturday.

Springfield Regional

Denver 2, UMass 1: The Minutemen threw everything but the kitchen sink at Denver goaltender Matt Davis and at several points it looked liked UMass was going to spring a big upset over the nine-time national champions.

But Tristan Broz scored at 12:27 of the second overtime to lift the Pioneers past UMass before 3,894 fans at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield. Most of the fans were rooting for the Minutemen.

UMass outshot the 2022 national champions 47-43, but Davis was outstanding between the pipes. So was UMass goalie Michael Hrabal, who turned aside 41 shots.

In a thrilling second overtime, UMass peppered Davis with 13 shots, while Hrabal turned aside 10 before Broz’s winner. On the winning goal, Broz carried the puck into the middle of the ice and uncorked a 35-foot wrist shot. Due to a heavy screen in front by Denver forward Sam Harris, Hrabal had little chance of seeing the puck off the stick of Broz, a Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick.

It was a terrific showing for UMass (20-14-3), which snuck into the 16-team tournament after falling 8-1 to Boston College in a Hockey East semifinal last Friday in Boston.

Denver went up 1-0 at 5:12 of the second period when Boston Buckberger ripped a shot past Hrabal. UMass tied it later in the period when Liam Gorman snuck a loose puck behind Davis. Hrabal and the Minutemen did an admirable job holding down the offense of Denver (29-9-3), which led the nation in goals per game (4.85) entering Thursday.

Only four penalties were called, two on each team, as both went 0-for-2 on the power play.

In the nightcap in the Springfield Regional, Maine, another Hockey East team in the field, fell 3-1 to Cornell.

Freshman center Will Smith of Lexington is a puck-handling playmaker who can find the back of the net.

These two NHL first-round draft picks and Hober Baker Award finalists will power the BC attack when the No. 1 ranked and top-seeded Eagles (31-5-1) engage the Huskies of Michigan Tech (19-14-6) in the NCAA Providence Regional on Friday afternoon (2) at Amica Mutual Pavilion.

The Eagles have been rated No. 1 in the nation since the end of January and enter the tournament riding a 12-game win streak.

No. 2 seed Wisconsin (26-11-2) will confront reigning national champion and No. 3 seed Quinnipiac (26-9-2) in the second semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Boston College has won five national championships, with four in this century. Wisconsin leads the field with six national titles, Michigan Tech has three and Quinnipiac won its first in 2023.

“We are extremely excited to be back here and the guys have worked hard all season just to get to this point,” said BC second-year head coach Greg Brown, the Hockey East Coach of the Year. “There’s been a lot of consistency from the players and that is really important if you are going to get a high seed.”

Gauthier was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round and fifth overall in the 2022 NHL Draft. Gauthier leads the nation with 35 goals with 24 assists as the middle man on the Eagles’ first line with left wing Oscar Jellvik and right wing Andre Gasseau.

“If you look at all the things he is really good at, finishing plays is probably the best,” said Brown. “He has a pro release essentially and every shot is big time.

“A lot of guys have big shots but not everybody can score. He gets himself into positions and he gets to spots where he can score. You see guys that shoot it through the boards in practice and not find the net in games, but Cutter has that ability.”

Gauthier is the first BC forward to reach 30 goals since Hobey Baker winner Johnny Gaudreau crossed the plateau in 2014. Gauthier needs three goals to tie the BC single-season record of 38 set by David Emma in 1990. Brown and Emma were teammates so Brown was able to compare and contrast the two snipers.

“They were different kind of players but both have great ability to score and both were extremely driven,” said Brown. “They never lost focus at playing as well as they could all the time.

“If we were up 4-1 it didn’t matter, Dave went over the boards the next shift as hard as he possibly could and Cutter has that same mentality. I would say their mental makeup is very similar but their styles of play were different.

“Cutter is bigger and more of a one-time shooter threat. Dave had a great shot but he could score in different ways. Mentally they both were extremely driven.”

Smith leads the nation in scoring with 67 points and first in Hockey East with 44 assists to go along with his 23 goals. Smith became the first Hockey East freshman to score a hat trick in the conference title game with four goals and an assist in BC’s 6-2 victory over No. 2 Boston University last Saturday at the TD Garden.

“Will has an extremely high skill level but he sees space, his awareness of space and where space is going to open up is outstanding and not a lot of guys have that,” said Brown. “It is a special skill of his.

“He can slow plays down when he needs to and he can speed plays up. He has a great gift for passing at exactly the right speed. If he needs to send a missile to a guy he does or if he needs or lay one into an area where a guy can skate to it, he is great at that, too.”

Smith was the San Jose Sharks’ first-round pick and fourth overall in the 2023 while right wing Gabe Perreault and left wing Ryan Leonard, his linemates, were also first-rounders that year. Leonard was selected eighth overall by the Washington Capitals and Perreault went to the New York Rangers with the 23rd pick. The trio have combined for 68 goals, 110 assists and 178 points.

“It has been a pretty good year so far,” said Smith. “We just try and read off each other every night and we are all close friends off the ice. We are around each other every day all day.”

It was a brief moment of quiet before some madness ensued.

Then walked in loud-mouthed coach Dan Hurley, barking instructions to his team as practice began without a moment of silence. During a 15-minute window open to the media, everyone – from coaches to players and student managers – filled the arena with noise. Hurley, wearing a white long sleeve shirt with the words “OUR TIME” emblazoned on the front, set the tone. A fiery, intense start to practice had a soundtrack to popular UConn chants, belted by players spread out across the court.

It was a preview, a small sampling of what will come Thursday night, when UConn continues its chase for a second consecutive championship a 90-minute drive away from their campus in Storrs. The Huskies will have a clear home-court advantage when they face San Diego State in the Sweet 16. There was a vision to this.

After winning the championship last April, UConn turned its attention to becoming the first back-to-back champion since Florida in 2007. The Huskies knew a path existed where they could play games in Brooklyn and Boston to advance to the Final Four. That fueled them in their accomplished quest of claiming the No. 1 overall seed in this year’s tournament.

“We’ve earned that by the season that we’ve had,” Hurley said. “This wasn’t some gift by the committee to try to make it as easy as possible for us. We’ve earned our position. We’ve manifested Brooklyn to Boston since really April. …

“We’ve worked incredibly hard over that time period to earn the opportunity to play in front of hopefully a 60 percent UConn type of crowd.”

“It’s super important for us,” added Alex Karaban. “That’s why we worked so hard this year.”

The proof is in the results, in the 33-3 record and Top 10 offense and defense.

Before its dominant run to the championship last spring, UConn may have snuck up on some people. The Huskies were a No. 4 seed. They weren’t exactly flawless during the regular season. Not the case this year.

UConn has taken everybody’s best shot and mostly overcome it all. The Huskies are unquestionably the best team in the country, not only rich with NBA prospects but deep and experienced. They’re not only beating everyone in their way, but dominating them by double digits on a nightly basis. ESPN host Mike Greenberg tried suggesting that they could beat an NBA team. “That’s crazy talk,” Hurley said.

But he certainly loves his team.

“This team fits,” Hurley said. “I just think the pieces fit so well. …

“You can’t deny when you watch this team play that it’s a fun team to watch because the ball moves, and we share it, and we play for each other. You can see the culture. You can see the energy. You can see the commitment to defense. You can see the personalities up and down the organization.”

San Diego State knows it has its hands full on Thursday. The Aztecs are excited to have another chance to take down UConn after losing by 17 in last year’s national title game. They took down the No. 1 overall seed last year when they beat Alabama in the Sweet 16.

But UConn is a different beast. Even coach Brian Dutcher had to acknowledge the odds are stacked against his team. He joked Wednesday he wishes this game was being played in Louisville instead of Boston. He recalled last season’s title game, when his team trailed by five with five minutes left before the Huskies took care of the rest.

“So hopefully (Thursday) we’ll do the same thing,” Dutcher said. “Hopefully with five minutes to go in the game we’ll have an opportunity to win.”

Hurley insists his team could lose: “We’re vulnerable. This is not a best-of-five or best-of-seven. You have one off night, you know, where everything falls apart, you could be the best team in the country and not win the tournament.”

Except the Huskies have won on those off nights. They’ve created a large margin for error. They went 3-for-22 from 3-point land in the second round against Northwestern and still won by 17. If Castle or Donovan Clingan have a bad night, they have more than enough with All-American guard Tristen Newton or the rest of their supporting cast.

This didn’t happen overnight. “A lot of it’s been trial and error,” said Hurley, who went through some growing pains in his first few seasons at UConn. But now in his sixth season, he’s restored the standard at a proud, championship program. He said Wednesday he believes he’s found the “secret sauce.”

The ingredients don’t just include getting virtual home games in the NCAA Tournament, but how they got to that point. Building a Top 10 offense and defense, creating the depth necessary to survive and advance, finding the right personalities that fit together and the ability to win in so many different ways.

On Thursday, they’re ready to showcase that – in front of a crowd that reflects all that work poured in.

“It’s been a great team,” Hurley said. “It’s just been a fun team. I think we’ve got … we finally have kind of figured out the formula.”

“This week we will be contacting officials across the country in states that still allow these bets and ask them to join Ohio, Vermont, Maryland and many others and remove college prop bets from all betting markets,” Baker said. “The NCAA is drawing the line on sports betting to protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game – issues across the country these last several days show there is more work to be done.”

Baker’s statement comes in the wake of the NBA’s investigation into Raptors player Jontay Porter, who is the subject of unusual betting activity involving his own prop bets. Those bets allow fans to bet on a player’s individual statistics in a game, like points and rebounds.

In his statement, Baker said issues with prop betting have led to college and professional athletes getting harassed. On Wednesday at TD Garden, ahead of Thursday’s Sweet 16 matchups, coaches stood with Baker in his call to remove prop betting from college sports.

“I don’t really know what a prop bet is, but social media is vicious,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “So anything we can do just to make it less vicious, I would be all for that relative to Charlie Baker.”

Illinois coach Brad Underwood said he supports Baker’s stance to protect the competitive integrity of the sport.

“I think that’s the one thing that we can never jeopardize,” Underwood said. “I would hate to see the day where nobody jumps for the jump ball because of a prop bet. To me the greatness of college athletics is the competitive integrity that we have, and we should be able to keep that.”

Staying silent

Illinois star Terrence Shannon Jr. is one of the hottest players in the country – scoring at least 25 points in his last six games – but he won’t be talking publicly as his Fighting Illini compete for a spot in the Final Four in Boston this week. Shannon Jr., who’s a projected first-round pick in this year’s NBA draft, was charged with one count of rape or an alternative count of sexual battery in December and was suspended by the team indefinitely.

Shannon Jr., who filed a lawsuit challenging the suspension, was cleared to return after missing six games and has been unavailable to the media since. On Tuesday, Illinois issued a statement that Shannon Jr. will remain unavailable “pursuant to the advice of his legal counsel.”

Underwood said he has no issue with it.

“That’s obviously a very serious situation,” Underwood said. “We’re very well aware of that. I think that there’s – I think there’s communication that he has to have with his legal counsel and so on and so forth to be aware of what’s in his best interest and moving forward. We’re going to adhere to that.

“The university has put out their statements on those situations, and we’re going to adhere to all that, and we’re going play basketball and do it to the best of our ability and keep trying to win games.”

Special homecoming

UConn forward Alex Karaban, a Southboro native, isn’t the only player coming home for the East Regional. Iowa State forward Hason Ward, a former star at Springfield Central High School, will be playing his first game at TD Garden and said he’s a handful of friends and family making the trip from Springfield for Thursday night’s game – most notably his aunt.

Ward, a key bench player in his second season with the Cyclones, said this will be the first time his friends and family see him in an Iowa State uniform. Ward started his career at VCU and got to see them in visits to UMass.

“It means a lot because being (at) Iowa State, it’s pretty far so they can’t really get out as much, so that hour and a half away is a no-brainer that they’ll be here,” Ward said. “It feels good to know that my people are going to be here.”

Tip-ins

Hurley had the quote of the day as he discussed his feelings about college basketball’s ongoing transfer portal. The UConn coach doesn’t like how players can enter the transfer portal before the conclusion of the season, nor does he think student-athletes should be allowed to transfer schools multiple times without restrictions.

“I don’t think you should play in five schools in four years or four schools in four years,” Hurley said. “I don’t think that’s healthy for the individual for the long-term 50, 60-year life after their playing career is over because there’s no connection with our university, a coaching staff, a network of alumni that can help create opportunities once basketball is over. …

“I don’t like the window being open right now. I just don’t think it’s healthy for somebody to be able to change schools like underwear.” … Boston is certainly not a common stop for several schools in this regional, but there was an appreciation for the city’s basketball history.

“All you have to do is look up at the rafters,” Underwood said. “You start looking up through, I don’t know, ’57 or ’59 and all the consecutive world championships and know what this city is about in terms of basketball. Larry Bird and Red Auerbach and Bill Russell, John Havlicek. You go right on down the list, and those are all names that are synonymous with the greats. …

“It’s great that it’s here in Boston, it’s in this iconic building and place, and it coincides with the fact the Celtics are really good again this year, but we’re doing it in the Sweet 16. So really excited about all that.”

The 6-8, 280-pound redshirt sophomore from Southboro was emphatic on the point prior the Huskies’ scheduled practice on Wednesday afternoon at the TD Garden.

“During the season coach (Dan) Hurley never talks about (draft) stock, he never talks about NBA,” said Karaban. “He wants us focused on the moment and he thinks those are distractions

“There is no talk about that ever and I don’t care about that at all. What I care about is UConn. I care more about what I can do at this program and this school and help leave a legacy of two national championships.

“I think that is something that is going to stick with me forever, more than anything that can happen in the future.”

The reigning national champion and No. 1 seed Huskies (33-3) advanced to the Sweet 16 with East Regional wins over Stetson and Northwestern at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. UConn will resume its quest for back-to-back crowns when the Huskies engage No. 3 San Diego State on Thursday night (7:30) at the TD Garden. No. 2 Iowa State (29-7) will confront No. 3 Illinois (28-8) in the second game at 10:05.

The UConn vs. San Diego State game is a rematch of last year’s championship game. The Huskies captured their fifth national championship with a 76-59 victory over the Aztecs at NRG Stadium in Houston. Karaban started 38 games as a redshirt freshman chasing the national championship and he expects to confront a San Diego State program intent on atoning for its loss in Houston.

“They are going to want a sense of revenge,” said Karaban. “They are definitely going to want a piece of what we did to them last year.

“Losing in the national championship, I know heartbreak and I can only imagine that it was tough for them. They are going come in here to get their revenge and pretty much they have a lot of returners from last year.

“They are super experienced and they made it championship game last year and the Sweet 16 game this year. I know they are going to be amped up, juiced up. It is going to be a tough game and they will be a tough team to play against.”

Karaban has played the third most minutes of any UConn player this season. He leads the team with 178 field goals and ranks highly in rebounds (3rd), blocks (3rd) and steals (3rd), while shooting more than 50 percent from the field and 87.5 percent from the free throw line. He averages 13.7 points per game, third best on the high-powered team.

Karaban is excited to play his first college basketball game in the Garden but it will not be his first trip in uniform to the barn on Causeway Street. Karaban was a freshman at Algonquin High School in Northboro when he played in a MIAA Tournament game on the parquet against Belmont.

He would later in play in AAU tournament games at the Garden after he transferred to the New Hampton School, a private prep school in New Hampshire.

Karaban also attended numerous Celtics games over the years, the most recent being Game 5 of Boston’s second-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers last season. He even attended Jayson Tatum’s basketball camp.

“Super excited to play in Boston,” said Karaban. “Probably the only chance I get to play with UConn in Boston so it will be special.

“At the same time, it is a Sweet 16 game for us so we are locked in as if it was at any location.”

“Well, it’s the UConn Invitational,” Dutcher said on the TBS broadcast. “So we’re going to Boston, see if we can disrupt the party a little bit.”

That’s certainly a tall order this week as the NCAA Tournament’s East Regional comes to TD Garden, where UConn, San Diego State, Iowa State and Illinois battle for a spot in the Final Four.

UConn is unquestionably the favorite to cut down the nets on Saturday night, not only as the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament but with a clear home-court advantage. After cruising to the Sweet 16 with wins in nearby Brooklyn, UConn fans are set to take over the Garden – just a 90-minute drive from their campus in Storrs – to cheer the Huskies in their chase for a second consecutive national championship. Even coach Dan Hurley couldn’t resist his urge to turn TD Garden into “Storrs North.”

Even if UConn does the inevitable, Boston – which hosts the East Regional for the first time since 2018, when Villanova won it – will be treated to some high-level matchups this week. The Huskies get things started on Thursday night against San Diego State in a rematch of last season’s national championship game before Iowa State and Illinois face off in a matchup of the nation’s best defense and best offense. The winners advance to Saturday’s regional final with a spot in the Final Four on the line.

Here’s a look at the teams coming to Boston:

No. 1 UConn Huskies

Record: 33-3

Coach: Dan Hurley, fourth season

Conference: Big East

How they got here: Beat No. 16 Stetson, 91-52; Beat No. 9 Northwestern, 75-58

Player to watch: Stephon Castle, freshman guard

Outlook: UConn has done nothing to cast doubt on its status as the championship favorite after advancing to the second weekend with ease. In fact – as San Diego State is painfully aware – the Huskies have yet to be tested in their last two tournaments. Their average margin of victory over their run of eight consecutive tournament wins is 22 points.

UConn has not been flawless by its championship standard, at least if you ask Dan Hurley. When the Huskies led Stetson by 33 at halftime, Hurley was disappointed in his team’s first half performance, telling CBS Sports’ Tracy Wolfson in his walkoff interview that they needed to be sharper and “grow up a little bit.” On Sunday, UConn shot 3-for-22 from 3-point range but still won by 17. There is a large margin for error with these Huskies, which makes them so difficult to beat.

After dealing with some injuries earlier this season – Donovan Clingan missed five games, Stephon Castle missed six – UConn is at full strength and seemingly peaking at the right time, just like last season. There isn’t a hole on the roster. Castle is a projected NBA lottery pick who’s an elite defender, Clingan is a 7-foot-2 terror down low, Alex Karaban – a Southborough native who will return home this weekend – and Cam Spencer can light it up from downtown. And, oh yeah, first team All-American guard Tristen Newton controls one of the most advanced offenses in college basketball. Good luck.

No. 5 San Diego State Aztecs

Record: 26-10

Coach: Brian Dutcher, seventh season

Conference: Mountain West

How they got here: Beat No. 12 UAB, 69-65; Beat No. 13 Yale, 85-57

Player to watch: Jaedon LeDee, senior forward

Outlook: The odds are certainly stacked against San Diego State, but you can’t totally count out a squad that made it to last season’s national championship game. The Aztecs returned four of their top six scorers from last year – including Lamont Butler, who hit the famous buzzer beater that sent them to last season’s title game – and added USC transfer Reese Waters. It’s a team still built on defense, as they boast the ninth-best unit in the nation according to KenPom, the popular metrics rankings.

Jaedon LeDee was one of the most improved players in the country this season. LeDee transferred from TCU in 2021 and was a key reserve on last season’s Final Four team before blossoming into an All-American this year, averaging 21.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. The Aztecs’ hopes will run through LeDee, who scored 32 points in their first-round victory and then 26 points as they advanced to the Sweet 16. The 6-foot-9, 240-pounder is an absolute load to deal with and will be a difficult matchup for Clingan.

The Aztecs’ greatest challenge in advancing will come on the offensive end, especially against a UConn team that simply has more firepower. SDSU ranked among the worst 3-point shooting teams in the country this season, but went 13-for-27 from deep in Sunday’s win over Yale. It will need a similar performance to have a chance against UConn.

No. 2 Iowa State Cyclones

Record: 29-7

Coach: T.J. Otzelberger, third season

Conference: Big 12

How they got here: Beat No. 15 South Dakota State, 82-65; Beat No. 7 Washington State, 67-56
Player to watch: Keshon Gilbert, junior guard

Outlook: Iowa State was picked seventh in the Big 12 preseason poll but surprised with the program’s best season in a decade and second Sweet 16 in three seasons under coach T.J. Otzelberger, with an unheralded group of players. The Cyclones, despite being ranked inside the AP Top 10 for the last six weeks of the regular season, will walk into the Garden without much buzz or notoriety with a roster that doesn’t include any starpower, but they are legit – especially on the defensive end.

After the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, Iowa State moved up to No. 1 in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency. The Cyclones are a difficult matchup for any offense, which they proved by holding Houston to 41 points in their Big 12 tournament championship victory before limiting Washington State to 56 points – 18 points below its average – to advance to Boston. Their defense ranks fourth in scoring defense (61.4 points per game) and turnovers forced per game (17.4). Keshon Gilbert and Tamin Lipsey are two tenacious guards primed to lead the Cyclones to the program’s first Final Four berth since 1944 – even if nobody is talking about them.

No. 3 Illinois Fighting Illini

Record: 28-8

Coach: Brad Underwood, seventh season

Conference: Big Ten

How they got here: Beat No. 14 Morehead State, 85-69; Beat No. 11 Duquesne, 89-63

Player to watch: Terrence Shannon Jr., senior guard

Outlook: Illinois stars Terrence Shannon Jr. and Coleman Hawkins each withdrew their names from the NBA draft last year to return to school in part to run it back with the Illini and try to make some history. They did so, helping them advance to their first Sweet 16 since 2005 – and they certainly want more.

Illinois arrives to TD Garden boasting an offense that Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla would probably love. The Illini own the nation’s No. 1 offense, per KenPom, and the unit seems to be peaking at the right time. The Big Ten tourney champions are averaging 91.3 points over their last four games.

Shannon Jr. leads the attack, and he might be the most exciting and talented player to grace the court in Boston this weekend. The 6-foot-6 guard – a projected NBA first-round pick this spring – is the nation’s third leading scorer and nearly unstoppable in the open floor with his speed and athleticism. He has scored at least 25 points in his last six games, including 30 points in Illinois’ second-round victory over Duquesne. Defenses also can’t ignore Marcus Domask, who became the ninth player in NCAA Tournament history – and last since Ja Morant in 2019 – to record a triple-double in Illinois’ win over Morehead State. If the Illini can get by Iowa State, an Elite Eight matchup against UConn would be an offensive dream.

Prediction: UConn beats Illinois to advance to the Final Four.

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