ANAHEIM, Calif. — Connecticut assistant coach George Blaney shook his head in disbelief.
He had just watched freshman Jeremy Lamb score 19 points, grab four rebounds, make two steals, dish out one assist and block a shot in Connecticut’s gritty 65-63 win over Arizona in the West Region championship game.
“He’s got ice in his veins,” Blaney told The Post. “I don’t think he knows he’s in the West Region finals.”
Lamb, whose steal and breakaway slam capped a 10-0 run that turned a 55-52 deficit into a 62-55 lead with 3:08 left, was asked if he knew where he was.
“Um, you mean, like, what do you mean?” replied Lamb.
Sophomore Alex Oriakhi leaned over and whispered in the freshman’s ear.
“He wants to know, do you have a pulse?” quipped Oriakhi.
“I haven’t thought about it sinking in yet,” Lamb said after regaining his poise. “I just like to go [out] there and play. I don’t like to think about where we’re playing and how big the stage is. Right now I’m just having fun playing basketball.”
Lamb has had a blast this weekend. After scoring 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting in the Huskies’ 74-67 Sweet 16 win over San Diego State, he was voted to the West Region All-Tournament team.
“The guy that we wanted to keep out of the secondary scoring was Jeremy Lamb,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “One of the things that UConn has in their favor is he [has] elevated his play to not only be a really good freshman, but one of the best players in the tournament.
“His shots that he made mid-to-late second half, give credit where credit is due, he earned his basket, moved without the ball and when you have Kemba Walker with 20 and then Jeremy Lamb has 19, then I think that’s when UConn is at their best,” Miller added.
The way UConn coach Jim Calhoun sees it, Lamb owed him one. Rolando Lamb, Jeremy’s dad, hit a last-second jumper in a second-round game of the 1984 tournament to give VCU a win over Calhoun’s Northeastern team.
“I told him he owed me one and he certainly has paid me back 10 fold,” Calhoun said. “That was just one game.”