BOSTON — Connecticut is halfway to history.
Three wins down, three wins to go to become the first team to repeat since Florida in 2006-07.
This was more difficult than the first two NCAA Tournament wins that felt like scrimmages, but not by much.
San Diego State hung with the top-seeded Huskies for a half. Then, UConn turned it on, cruising to the Elite Eight on the strength of an 82-52 thrashing at TD Garden Thursday night.
Connecticut has now won nine straight tournament games by double figures after dominating the rematch of last year’s national championship game.
The average margin of victory in those games: 22.8.
It will meet the No. 2 Iowa State/No. 3 Illinois winner on Saturday night with a Final Four berth at stake.
The No. 5 Aztecs only trailed by four late in the first half, but that was as close as they would get.
Cam Spencer scored the final five points of the stanza and the Huskies scored 11 of the first 15 points after halftime.
It was a 16-point lead at that point and the Connecticut-heavy crowd was in celebration mode.
The lead was 21 after a Donovan Clingan dunk with 6:50 to go.
It was really over by that point.
San Diego State couldn’t compete on the glass — it was outrebounded by 21 — and couldn’t make a shot in the second half (32 percent).
Connecticut outscored the Mountain West Conference school by 20 points in the paint and held All-American Jaedon LeDee to 18 points on 8 of 18 shooting.
By Connecticut’s lofty standards, it wasn’t a particularly impressive offensive performance.
The Huskies shot 46 percent from the field, but it didn’t matter. Spencer led them with 18 points, Tristen Newton added 17 and Stephon Castle posted the first double-double of his career with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
San Diego State started hot, and even held an early lead, the first time Connecticut had trailed in the tournament.
The Huskies quickly took command on the strength of a 12-2 run and led by as many as 11 after five straight points from Spencer.
The Aztecs methodically got back into the game, reeling off a 13-6 spurt and trailed by nine at the break.
With 6:53 to go, LeDee picked up his second foul, but coach Brian Dutcher gambled and kept him in.
It worked.
LeDee was able to defend Clingan despite the foul woes — the center missed five of his shots in the period.
LeDee scored 15 of San Diego State’s 31 points and shot 7 of 10 from the field. His teammates missed 16 of 23 shots, however.
It was a similar story for UConn. Spencer scored 16 points and made 6 of 9 shots.
The other Huskies were 9 of 29.
