The story of the Connecticut Huskies blowing out the Duke Blue Devils in January was simply impossible to avoid as a backdrop for this game.
Who knew that UConn would nearly repeat it with a 75-40 blowout with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
The bottom line is that this is just a bad matchup for Duke - against any team as disciplined and methodical as UConn, Duke's defense is unable to rattle UConn which limits their transition scoring opportunities and forces them to score in the half court. In the second half, they shot slightly better at 28 percent. Yet UConn caught fire, shooting 72 percent in the second half while also dominating the boards 16 to 5.
All of that with essentially a six player rotation.
But when one of those six is Maya Moore, great things are possible: Moore was her typically outstanding self with 28 points, 10 rebounds, seven steals and two blocks as she scored her 3000th point.
Freshman Bria Hartley stepped up for 14 points, six rebounds, and six assists.
Duke obviously wasn't able to score a whole lot, but senior point guard Jasmine Thomas finished her season with heart, scoring 17 points, grabbing six boards and making six assists.
UConn will take on Notre Dame next in a fourth meeting on the season, which UConn is winning 3-0.