yahoo - 3/29/2026 12:48:25 AM - GMT (+2 )
WASHINGTON – Things didn’t work quite as Dan Hurley hoped.
Earlier this week, the Connecticut coach implored fans of the Huskies and rival St. John’s to put aside the rivalry and root for each team to advance out of the East Region semifinals for the fourth matchup this season, this time in the Elite Eight.
The No. 2 Huskies took care of their end of the bargain, beating No. 3 Michigan State 67-63 thanks to the play of veterans Alex Karaban, Tarris Reed Jr. and Solo Ball. But the No. 5 Red Storm couldn’t get over the hump against No. 1 Duke, losing 80-75 in the most physical game of this year’s NCAA Tournament.
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Instead of an all-Big East rematch, the Elite Eight will feature a rekindled rivalry between the Huskies and Blue Devils, who engaged in three similarly high-stakes tournament games in the 1990s culminating in a UConn win in 1999 for the first of the program’s six national championships.
“UConn and Duke have been the two best college basketball programs on the men's side in the last 30 years,” Hurley said. “So it's a pretty cool matchup.”
Like every previous pairing, the sixth tournament matchup in the rivalry’s history will decide who plays for and potentially wins the national championship.
Duke and UConn first met in the 1964 Elite Eight, with the Blue Devils rolling to a 101-54 rout before finishing as the national runner-up. In 1990, the Blue Devils pulled out a 79-78 win in the Elite Eight before again losing in the title game.
A year later, Duke topped UConn 81-67 in the Sweet 16 and then advanced for the program’s first national championship. The two faced off in the 1999 championship game, with the Huskies winning 77-74. The most recent matchup, in the 2004 national semifinals, ended with UConn winning 79-78 before going on to beat Georgia Tech for former coach Jim Calhoun’s second title.
“You have two of the biggest brands in college basketball going at it to make it to the Final Four,” Karaban said. “You've seen Duke. You've seen UConn throughout your entire life when you watch college basketball growing up. To be another piece of that story of those two programs going at it, I think it's awesome.”
UConn experience battles Duke young talentThis Elite Eight matchup features one immediate contrast: While Duke is again built around underclassmen, including star freshman forward Cameron Boozer, UConn is a veteran-driven team that has leaned on this experience to win challenging tournament games against No. 15 Furman, No. 7 UCLA and the Spartans.
But there’s a question of whether experience really matters at this stage of the season. While younger, Duke has been tested enough in this tournament — against the Red Storm and in the opening round against No. 16 Siena, which had a double-digit halftime lead — to potentially erase the Huskies’ edge.
“I think it's less about the age and more about the mindset, the competitiveness, their feel for the game,” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer. “I think that's really something important for me and this program. And the rest takes care of itself.”
Karaban may be the game’s biggest wild card. More of a complementary piece during the program’s back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2024, he’s averaging 20.3 points per game in this year’s tournament and has made 11 of his 25 attempts from 3-point range. He brings into Sunday night a remarkable 16-1 record in tournament play.
“At the end of the day also, he's just a competitor and a winner,” Boozer said. “He's a great player.”
On the Duke side, one key will be landing a similar impact from point guard Caleb Foster, who made an unexpected recovery from a fractured foot suffered earlier this month to contribute 11 points across 19 minutes of action against the Red Storm.
His availability brings the Blue Devils’ depth back to normal strength and sets up an intriguing backcourt matchup between Foster, freshman Cayden Boozer and Isaiah Evans against the Huskies’ main group of Ball, Silas Demary Jr. and Braylon Mullins.
For Duke, getting Foster back is “huge confidence builder for the people around him,” said Hurley.
But a Final Four berth should be determined by two related factors.
The first is the battle in the frontcourt pitting Reed against Boozer and center Patrick Ngongba II. Reed has battled inconsistency in this tournament, sandwiching his game against the Spartans and some monster numbers against Furman with a 10-point performance against UCLA that saw him struggle to get position in the paint and shoot just 3 of 8 from the field.
Should UConn work to get him active, however, Reed’s variety of slippery post moves could force Cameron Boozer to overexert himself on the defensive end, especially with Ngongba still working his way back from a lingering foot injury.
“Obviously, Reed down low is a handful,” Scheyer said.
On the other hand, Boozer has continued to show why he’s a favorite for national player of the year and a strong contender for the first pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. He’s posted at least 19 points and 10 rebounds in his three tournament games and has been adept at getting to the line, making 26 of his 28 free-throw attempts.
Given how often the UConn offense runs through Reed in the halfcourt set, whether the senior can stay out of foul trouble after being whistled four times against MSU could determine the Huskies’ chances.
But the biggest question mark heading into the Elite Eight is whether the Blue Devils can carry over the physical play that helped them escape against St. John’s and coach Rick Pitino.
This ferocious style got the better of UConn twice during the regular season, including in the Red Storm’s dominant 72-52 win in the Big East tournament championship. The Huskies did wallop St. John’s once during the regular season, winning 72-40 on Feb. 25 after forcing 24 misses from the field in a row to end the game.
Which team shows up on Sunday — the one that pushed back on the Red Storm’s physicality or the one that wilted — will determine who advances to the Final Four.
“I think it's their character,” Scheyer said of his team. “I think it's about the fact of learning on the fly, realizing they can be that good. Then I think that belief has kicked in the second half of the year.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Duke, UConn to rekindle March Madness rivalry with Final Four at stake
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