BOSTON — Thirty points in a row – that’s quite a run.

The streak UConn is putting together this March is pretty impressive, too.

The defending NCAA champions scored 30 straight points to power their way back to the Final Four, steamrolling Illinois 77-52 on Saturday night – a March Madness record 10th straight double-digit victory for the top-seeded Huskies.

Donovan Clingan scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds and five blocked shots for UConn, which pulled away by scoring the first 25 points of the second half. The Huskies, who cruised to their fifth national title last year, seem inexorably headed for a sixth: Their NCAA Tournament wins this year have come by 39, 17, 30 and 25 points.

Actor Bill Murray, whose son, Luke, is a Huskies assistant coach, watched the game from a courtside seat and took video of the postgame celebration, where his grandchildren were showered with confetti. “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Larry David was also part of a crowd the Huskies called “Storrs North” for the East Region games that were played about 90 miles from campus.

UConn, which won the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden and advanced to the Sweet 16 in Brooklyn, will now get on an airplane for the first time in almost a month and head to the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona. It will face the West Region champion Alabama.

The Huskies are the first defending champs to make it back to the national semifinals since Florida won back-to-back titles in 2006 and ’07.

That’s still a possibility for UConn, too.

“It’s not about really trying to win No. 6 or go back-to back,” Coach Dan Hurley said. “It’s this time of year, you love your team and you can’t imagine what it would be like to not get up the next day and still coach your team. It’s what you learn when you win the way we’ve won. It really is about the work, the journey, the process.”

Marcus Domask scored 17 points – 15 in the first half – for Illinois (29-9), and star Terrence Shannon Jr. was held to eight points on 2-of-12 shooting. Shannon, who scored 29 points in Thursday night’s Sweet 16 victory over Iowa State and played much of the season while facing a rape charge in Kansas, snapped a string of 41 straight games scoring in double digits.

Cam Spencer had 11 points and 12 rebounds for UConn, which reached the Elite Eight with a 30-point win over San Diego State on Thursday night. Hassan Diarra scored 11 and Alex Karaban had 10 points for the Huskies.

ALABAMA 89, CLEMSON 82: Mark Sears made seven 3-pointers and the Tide (25-11) recovered from their early long-distance shooting woes with 16 3s to beat the Tigers (24-12) in Los Angeles, sending the Crimson Tide to the Final Four for the first time.

The Tide will face defending national champion UConn in Glendale, Arizona, next Saturday. Alabama knocked off top-seeded North Carolina to reach the Elite Eight.

Sears’ 3-pointers were one off his career high. He finished with 23 points. Freshman Jarin Stevenson airballed a 3 in the first half, when Alabama missed 12 of its first 13 from long range. He made a career-high five 3s and had 19 points off the bench.

Clemson was seeking its first Final Four appearance, too, in the West Region final between two schools better known for their national championship football teams. Joseph Girard III led Clemson with 19 points, and Ian Schieffelin had 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The Tide buried the Tigers in an avalanche of 10 3s in the second half to pull away. Sears hit a 3, turned and put his fingers to his lips. After he sank the Tide’s eighth 3 of the half, Sears playfully stuck out his tongue and nodded his head as he ran up the court.

Clemson had allowed only 14 3-pointers in its first three NCAA Tournament games.

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