DAYTON, Ohio -- Forty minutes of hell on a basketball court is all well and good. If you're into inefficiency, that is.

Why take 40 minutes when you can demolish a team in 20? Any 20?

Connecticut hasn't needed to play two good halves of basketball yet in the NCAA tournament, and it didn't need to Tuesday night to beat No. 3 seed Florida State 90-50 for win No. 76 in a row and a spot in the Final Four next weekend in San Antonio.

This time the greatest show in basketball just waited a little longer to take the stage.

For the first half of the regional final against the Seminoles, the Huskies looked as disjointed and out of rhythm as a team can without ever trailing and in taking a 14-point lead into halftime. Maya Moore scored 11 points in the game's first seven minutes and then watched the rest of the half from the bench after picking up two early fouls for the second game in a row. The Huskies committed nine turnovers that led to 10 points for the Seminoles and gave up nine offensive rebounds to FSU.

So while it's true a 42-28 halftime lead would have been cause for celebration for most teams one win away from the Final Four, it was a far cry from the first three rounds, when the Huskies led at the break by an average of 32 points and never fewer than 26.

You get the feeling some form of that message echoed in the Huskies' locker room at the break, even if, as Kalana Greene said on the court after the game, it was delivered in a measured manner, not with the fire and brimstone many associate with Geno Auriemma. In fact, even on the court, the coach's calm was a staple in Dayton, broken only for the most brief of moments in the first half.

And with Moore back on the court, and signaling what was to come in taking a backdoor pass from Tina Charles to score all of 11 seconds into the second half, Connecticut turned up the pressure on both ends of the court. Midway through the half it held a 31-point lead, more than enough for the favorite to cruise home with its third win by at least 40 points this tournament.