Sweet 16: San Diego State vs UConn | Prediction & Pick

San Diego Sate look to shut down Walker and the Huskies

San Diego survived double overtime against Temple and has earned a ticket to the West Regional Semifinals of the NCAA Tournament against a surging Connecticut Huskies squad on Thursday in Anaheim, CA.

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#3 Connecticut (28-9, 9-9 Big East) vs. #2 San Diego State (34-2, 14-2 MWC)

Date/Time: Thursday, March 24, 7:00 PM EST
Venue: Honda Center in Anaheim, CA.
Broadcast: CBS

Money Line: OFF
Spread: Connecticut -1
Over/Under: 130

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The Mountain West Champion Aztecs put Temple away in the final minutes of the second extra session handing the Owls their tournament pink slip, 71-64.

Meanwhile, the Huskies continue to be one of the hottest teams in March as they roll into the Sweet 16. UConn has won seven in a row.

Kemba Walker is a man on mission and led Connecticut past Cincinnati and into the Sweet 16 for the second time in the past three seasons. The senior guard nearly recorded a triple-double in UConn’s 81-52 win over Bucknell in the round of 64, then followed up that performance with a huge 33-point effort in a 69-58 victory over Big East rival Cincinnati in the round of 32 on Friday in Washington D.C..

UConn was an ordinary 44 percent shooting, but stood out defensively by holding Cincinnati to 40 percent from the field. UConn also did the job on the glass with a 35-25 margin and were even with the Bearcats in the turnover battle. They did however outperform the Bearcats at the stripe, connecting on 25 of 30.

But is Walker enough to do it alone against the Aztecs?

Steve Fisher’s Aztecs have been making the most out of their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance, first grabbing their first ever tournament victory by destroying Northern Colorado 68-50, and then after playing three lousy periods of basketball, found the wherewithal to pull together to survive to play again.

Billy White had his third double double the season with 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Kawhi Leonard sealed the deal steal with a slam dunk in a third-round NCAA tournament thriller on Saturday. The Aztecs didn’t impress with just 43 percent shooting but were very strong at the defensive end limiting Temple to only 38 percent from the field. San Diego State has now won seven straight and 14 of its past 15 games overall.

San Diego will need Leonard to stay on pace when they met the Huskies and, like their other games; the Huskies will rely heavily on a sure-handed Walker. Nevertheless, San Diego might be just the team to contain Walker. They rank seventh in the nation in scoring defense at 58.8 points allowed per game. They also rank 13th in field goal percentage defense (39.3%) and 27th in three-point field goal percentage defense (31.4%).

The odds makers have the UConn Huskies as a -1 point favorite with an over/under of 130.

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Prediction: San Diego State has several scoring options against a Huskies team that is more reliant on one individual, and I expect that dynamic to carry them to the next round.

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