BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — The cheers started early. So early, in fact, that the preceding NC State–Notre Dame game at Total Mortgage Arena still had more three minutes to play in the third quarter when an overwhelmingly pro-UConn crowd first laid eyes on the Huskies and let out a roaring ovation. At that point, UConn’s players, still clad in their black sweatsuits, walked out of an arena tunnel and found seats behind one of the baselines. For a few minutes, they sat and watched as mere spectators of a tightly-contested affair.
Less than an hour later, having subsequently changed into their home-white uniforms, those same players took the floor for a Sweet 16 contest set less than 80 miles from Gampel Pavilion.