New York – Someday this UConn basketball team will play a down to the wire NCAA tournament game.

But not on Sunday night.

Top-seeded UConn quickly drained the drama out of an East Region second round matchup with No. 9 seed Northwestern at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The Huskies never trailed in a decisive 75-58 victory, winning their eighth straight March Madness game by double digits – one shy of tying the tournament record.

“It’s very impressive,” sophomore Donovan Clingan said of the streak. “It’s crazy. But we worked so hard for this. We’ve been working since June. We practice harder than anyone in the country. And we’re the most unselfish team. Everyone wants to play for each other and everyone wants to win.

“And everyone came to UConn to make history and try to do great things.”

The Huskies (33-3) advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the second straight season and 19th time overall in program history. They will face No. 5 San Diego State at 7:39 p.m. Thursday in Boston. San Diego State beat No. 13 Yale 85-57.

Thursday’s game is a rematch of last season’s national championship game, won by UConn 76-59.

They made it look easy in their two games in Brooklyn, winning by an average of 28 points.

“Brooklyn to Boston, just like we talked about,” coach Dan Hurley said. “We’ve been manifesting this. A lot of work goes to making it come to fruition – the dominant regular season, the dominant Big East tournament, the non-conference, all that.

“Then we had to win here to get there. It’s great to talk about but you’ve got to go execute.”

It’s hard not to be impressed with UConn’s play so far in March. The Huskies won by 17 against a Big Ten opponent despite sinking a season-low tying three 3-pointers out of 22 attempts.

Minutes into Sunday’s game, the Huskies were in full beast mode. They led by 22 at halftime and by as many as 30 in the second half.

Clingan, whose nickname is Cling Kong, had a monster game. He registered a double-double by halftime and finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high eight blocks.

The Wildcats (22-12), who lost two starters to injury prior to the postseason, had no answers for the 7-foot-2 Clingan, who built on his first round performance (19 points, eight rebounds) against Stetson on Friday.

“I feel healthier and lighter than I’ve ever felt,” Clingan said. “I just really got my confidence back and I’m just trying to fly around the court and do whatever my team needs me to do to win.”

Clingan had plenty of help, as veteran Tristen Newton chipped in 20 points and 10 assists and his backcourt partner Cam Spencer added 11 points.

Freshman Stephon Castle and senior Hassan Diarra took turns shutting down All-Big Ten performer Boo Buie, who missed his first 10 shots and didn’t hit a field goal until just over 10 minutes left in the game. Buie had nine points – well under his 19.3 points per game average – on 2 for 15 from the field.

“I didn’t take it as a challenge, I took it more as an assignment,” Castle said. “To have somebody like DC behind me gives me a lot of confidence to guard the ball the way I want to.”

UConn delivered a hard shot to the midsection with an outburst in the opening minutes. An active defense made Northwestern uncomfortable and led to fast break opportunities, and usually baskets.

The Huskies pushed the pace and jetted out to an 11-2 edge. Spencer assisted on four of UConn’s first five baskets, including dunks by Castle and Clingan on back to back possessions.

Timeout Northwestern just four minutes, 39 seconds into the game.

The Wildcats, who beat Purdue during the regular season, tried to respond. But they only temporarily slowed down the Huskies.

UConn watched a 30-point lead shrink to 16 inside of the final five minutes before closing out the win. The Huskies shot 53.7% from the field and held the Wildcats to 37.3%.

Spencer had a good game once again on Sunday and helped UConn win 33 games for the first time since the 2003-04 national championship season.

The Huskies have recorded a program-record eight straight tournament wins.

“It’s pretty cool,” Spencer said about reaching the Sweet Sixteen. “It was the goal to get from Brooklyn to Boston, so we are looking forward to that. We have four more to go, so that’s really what we’re focused on, our next game, really.”

The Huskies are two wins away from reaching the Final Four in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history.

“They have all the ingredients to win another championship, no doubt about it,” Northwestern coach Chris Collins said.

g.keefe@theday.com