By NANCY ARMOUR, AP National Writer
Mar 16, 2:19 am EDT
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)—Jim Calhoun and Connecticut didn’t expect their season to end this way.
Their future is equally unpredictable.
“We’re talking about tonight’s game. We’re not talking about me,” Calhoun said after Iowa State stunned the defending national champions 77-64 in the NCAA tournament Thursday night. “I’m going to get on the plane tomorrow, go home and do what I usually do and meet up with the team on Monday. My own personal thing, I don’t think it has any relevance, to be honest with you.”
Chris Allen led four Cyclones in double figures with 20 points, and Iowa State scored its last 14 at the free-throw line to beat UConn, the first time since UCLA in 1996 that the defending champs have lost in the opening game. Calhoun didn’t even wait for the final buzzer, heading for halfcourt with about four seconds left to congratulate Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg.
It is only the second loss in the opening game of the NCAA tournament for UConn under Calhoun.
“I’m surprised as anybody, clearly,” Calhoun said. “I imagine our players are, too.”
For the eighth-seeded Cyclones, meanwhile, it’s their biggest victory in a season of them, having knocked off Kansas and Baylor during Big 12 play.
Royce White had a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Scott Christopherson also had 15 for the Cyclones. Iowa State shot 48 percent from the floor and had a whopping 41-24 edge in rebounds.
“I feel like just we wanted it more,” Allen said. “I felt like we was doing everything we needed to and played hard.”
Next up for Iowa State: Overall No. 1 seed Kentucky in the third round of the South Regional on Saturday. The Wildcats routed Western Kentucky earlier Thursday.
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