ANAHEIM, Calif. — As NCAA Tournament regular Connecticut showed Thursday night in its 74-67 victory over upstart San Diego State at the West Regional, tradition does not necessarily win basketball games, but drawing on previous experiences on the big stage can prevent a team from losing it with mistakes.
Connecticut had all the tradition in this matchup. The Huskies also have Kemba Walker.
A 6-foot-1 junior All-American, Walker bailed out the Huskies countless times with deep 3-pointers and fearless drives when San Diego State, energized by a crazy contingent of Aztecs fans in the Honda Center, looked on the verge of a run. After a slow start, he finished with 36 points, nearly half his team’s total.
“My teammates want me to take those shots,” Walker said. “If they’re going to have that confidence in me, I’m going to take those shots with confidence.”
The West Region’s No. 3 seed, UConn (29-9) will be making its 10th appearance in an Elite Eight on Saturday against Arizona, which beat Duke 93-77. San Diego State? The Aztecs hadn’t even won an NCAA Tournament game until last week.
Connecticut continued on a roll that began by winning the rugged Big East Conference Tournament with five victories in five days, an unprecedented feat for any league.
“We’re not worried about fatigue,” Walker said.
The Huskies are having too much fun. Always coming up big in big games, Walker reached 36 points for only the second time. He scored 42 early in the season against Vermont.
“He’s almost impossible to stop,” said San Diego State’s 6-8 Billy White, one of three Aztecs to take turns trying to hang with the Huskies superstar. “You try to make him take tough shots over you, but then he makes them.”
“It didn’t matter who was guarding Kemba,” San Diego State coach Steve Fisher added.
Without Walker going Kobe Bryant and 6-5 freshman Jeremy Lamb (24 points) pitching in his best game, Fisher might be celebrating his first trip to the Elite Eight since his days coaching Michigan’s “Fab Five.”
San Diego State, the No. 3 seed here and a slight favorite in the game, had no reason to hang its head. The Aztecs (34-3) battled back.
“They’d throw a punch, and we’d throw a punch,” said Aztecs senior guard D.J. Gay, who led his team with 16 points.
That might not have been the best choice of words because Gay’s team was whistled for two technical fouls, although nobody lost their cool.
Talk about heated action: San Diego State freshman Jamaal Franklin was called for a technical foul with 8 1/2 minutes to go when a review by officials of the video replay showed the freshman bumped Walker and knocked him down near the Aztecs’ bench while heading to the team huddle during a timeout. Players of both benches jawed, but order was restored before any shoving occurred.
San Diego State led 53-49 at the time of Franklin’s technical. Connecticut outscored the Aztecs by 11 points the rest of the way.
The Mountain West Conference Tournament champs wouldn’t give in, however. A 3-pointer by Gay from the right wing pulled the Aztecs to within a point, at 65-64 with 2:54 to go. But Connecticut did not commit a turnover in the final three minutes.
Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun has seemingly been through a thousand of these. But this time he sounded relieved his Huskies will march on.
“Talent-wise, (San Diego State) could play in any major conference in the country,” Calhoun said.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
