The home games for the Connecticut men’s basketball team are played on campus at Gampel Pavilion, and a few of them are farmed out to the XL Center in Hartford. And then there is the home away from home for the Huskies.
“We just feel like Madison Square Garden is our third home,’’ Shabazz Napier said.
That was bad news for the guys from Ames, Iowa.
In a forceful display of balance, UConn on Friday night showed who was boss early in the first NCAA Tournament game played at the Garden in 53 years, sparked by the dynamic backcourt of Napier and Ryan Boatright. And then, when Iowa State was able to cool down the hot guards, UConn fed willowy 6-foot-9 forward DeAndre Daniels and he pumped in 19 of his 27 points in the second half as the Huskies built a 17-point lead and held on for an 81-76 victory in an East Regional semifinal game in front of several thousand Huskies fans.
“It was tremendous just being out there with that crowd and that UConn Nation,’’ Boatright said.
“It just felt like a home game,’’ added Napier, a veteran of many Big East battles in the World’s Most Famous Arena.
Indeed, the Huskies for years have turned March into party time in the Garden and now they get to stay around for the entire weekend, as they face Michigan State on Sunday afternoon for the right to head to Arlington, Texas, for the Final Four.
The Huskies (29-8) are in the Elite Eight for the 11th time in school history in the first tournament run for second-year coach Kevin Ollie, Jim Calhoun’s hand-picked replacement. Ollie has UConn playing the same brand of high-octane ball his mentor did.
“He passed me the baton and I’m just trying to run with it the best way I know how,’’ Ollie said.
Just as Calhoun, with his last Huskies teams, leaned on point guard Kemba Walker, so too has Ollie handed the reins to his point guard. Napier set the tone by drilling his first four 3-pointers as UConn took a 36-26 halftime lead. But Napier made only one shot from the floor in the second half. No matter. Boatright (16 points) was solid throughout the game and freshman Terrence Samuel from Brooklyn scored all 10 of his points after halftime, including four free throws as the Cyclones were trying to mount a comeback.
Then there was Daniels.
“He was unbelievable,’’ Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said.
That’s not hyperbole. Daniels is a talent — he scored 31 points against Temple this season — but often is an invisible presence within the UConn offense. He was a dominating factor in this game, hitting 10 of his 15 shots to go along with 10 rebounds and two blocks.
“I felt like in the beginning DeAndre was kind of pressing,’’ Napier said. “He wanted to make a big impact and I told him ‘Just calm down.’ We kept feeding him and he got super hot.’’
It was too much for Iowa State (28-8), a team that lost one of its best players, Georges Niang, to a broken foot in the opening-round victory over North Carolina Central. Dustin Hogue, a 6-foot-6 junior from Yonkers, could not be stopped in the lane and finished with 34 points, hitting 15 of his 19 shots from the floor. But heralded guard DeAndre Kane was outplayed by Napier, as Kane scored 16 points but missed 12 of his 18 shots. Melvin Ejim led Iowa State this season, shooting 51 percent and averaging 18.1 points, but he was brutal, shooting 3 of 13 for seven points.
Iowa State cut a 17-point deficit to 67-63 on Naz Long’s 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:24 left in the game. Suddenly under pressure, UConn responded when Niels Giffey drilled a trey from the deep left corner 25 seconds later. The Huskies made 20 of 22 foul shots to ensure there would be no comeback and that there would be an extended stay in the New York environs they find so inviting.