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Magic belongs to Huskies

SYRACUSE, N.Y. É Connecticut ended Southern Illinois' magical march hrough the NCAA

Tournament.

night, leading UConn back to the final eight with a 71-59 victory over 11th-seeded SIU in th

East Region semifinals.

dangerous team to look out for.

UConn had trouble shaking Southern Illinois, though.

Led by transfer Rolan Roberts, who scored 24 points, the Salukis hung around, despite

trailing by 12. After beating No. 6 Texas Tech and No. 3 Georgia in the first two rounds, the

Missouri Valley Conference co-champions hoped to spring another mid-major conference upset on

the Big East, much as Kent State did to Pitt the night before in the South Regional.

But UConn (27-6), seeded second in the East, displayed the grit that won the Big East

tournament, keeping its poise and holding on. Every time Southern Illinois threatened, the

Huskies came up with an answer.

"We don't have better players," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "We just have more of

them.'

night's Maryland-Kentucky game for a berth in the Final Four

UConn is in the final eight for the first time since 1999, when it won its only NCAA

championship at Tropicana Field. The Huskies didn't even make the tournament last year, and

they were knocked out in the second round by Tennessee in 2000.

The 6-foot-9 Okafor and the backcourt savvy of Tony Robertson proved vital for Connecticut.

Robertson's ballhandling kept UConn in control, and Okafor's size broke SIU's spirit.

At one juncture, Okafor, who set a school record with 136 blocks, batted away a shot by

Jermaine Dearman. Then Okafor followed up by converting two opportunities under the basket

with resounding dunks.

fouls and the Salukis converting just 1-of-14 3-point shots overall, it was just too much t

overcome.

Huskies' depth wore the Salukis down

Dearman finished with 17 points, but Kent Williams, SIU's leading scorer, was held to

seven.

of their first nine. But he missed his easiest chance on an alley-oop pass when he mistime

his leap to the basket.

field. There were three air balls, two on the same sequence and a flurry of misse

opportunities.

took advantage of the errors

run punctuated by 3-pointers from Ben Gordon, Robertson and Butler for a 26-18 lead

When the Salukis closed the gap to 28-24, the Huskies responded quickly, this time with a

12-4 run. Butler had five points, and Gordon finished it with his second 3-pointer, giving

Connecticut a 40-28 lead at halftime.

The Huskies' edge was built from the 3-point line. They hit 5-of-9, and while Southern

Illinois was 0-for-6 in the half.

Except for Roberts' 8-for-10, the Salukis made just 5-of-21 field-goal attempts in the

first 20 minutes. They also missed five of seven free throws, mistakes they could not afford.

The final mistake was made by Weber, when he drew a technical foul with 1:32 remaining and

SIU running out of chances.

play well and shoot well. We didn't shoot well.

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