GLENDALE, Ariz. — Connecticut hardly needed Hasheem Thabeet as it romped through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
That all changed against a gritty Purdue team. The Boilermakers seemed to have an answer for everything the Huskies threw at them — except for the 7-foot-3 Thabeet.
Thabeet, the Big East co-player of the year, scored 15 points, had 15 rebounds and blocked four shots, and top-seeded Connecticut overcame a sluggish first half to defeat Purdue 72-60 in the NCAA West Regional semifinals on Thursday.
“Hasheem just took the game over,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. “Purdue, quite frankly, ran into one of the best players in America in Hasheem Thabeet. Beyond that, the game might have been different if we had just, quote, a regular center.”
It was Thabeet’s 18th double-double of the season, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the Huskies.
One day after a Yahoo! Sports report alleged UConn committed NCAA recruiting violations, the Huskies (30-4) reached the regional final for the fourth time since 2002.
Calhoun said he had a “fruitful” phone conversation regarding the allegations with UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway on Thursday morning but wouldn’t go into details.
“He said, ‘Go get Purdue,’ ” Calhoun said.
That’s what the Huskies did.
UConn jumped out to an early 11-point lead, then went cold and let the fifth-seeded Boilermakers (27-10) claw back into the game.
In the UConn locker room at halftime, Thabeet said his teammates told him to step it up.
“They know I’m capable of doing a lot of stuff,” said Thabeet, a junior from Tanzania. “Today, the second half, they told me to go back there and do what you do all season long.”
Thabeet did exactly that.
He scored Connecticut’s first eight points of the second half, then blocked a shot.
