UConn Does It Again! Huskies Secure Back-to-Back Championships in Dominant Title Game Win

GLENDALE, Arizona — In the final moments of the national championship game on Monday night, UConn guard Tristen Newton dribbled a pass to a cutting Stephon Castle, who dribbled past Zach Edey in the post and finished with a standard layup. That basket gave the Huskies their biggest lead of the game—17 points—but it was only a routine execution.

Think of that when the hourglass tipping and the countdown to UConn’s impending championship celebration began..

A few minutes later, the State Farm Arena confetti cannons burst into action, capping UConn’s triumphant 75-60 victory over Purdue in Monday’s national championship game and immortalizing Dan Hurley’s Huskies, who achieved an unprecedented feat for a college basketball team since Florida in 2006–07.

That achievement on its own is historic. Only Duke in 1991–92 had won consecutive titles since John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty in the 1960s and 1970s, aside from Florida. However, what elevates this two-year run to legendary status is how UConn won its 12th straight NCAA Tournament game—by essentially becoming the basketball equivalent of a wood chipper.

UConn defeated their six opponents in the Big Dance last season by an incredible average of 20 points per game. Hurley’s second team was, for some reason, much more formidable. The Huskies’ average victory margin in this tournament was an astounding 23.3 points per game following their 15-point triumph over the Boilermakers, who were participating in their first national championship game since 1969. UConn’s overwhelming dominance is demonstrated by the fact that not even the No. 1 seed Boilermakers, who have two-time Wooden Award winner Zach Edey, were able to hold the final score to single digits. With 37 points and 10 rebounds at the end of Monday’s game—likely his final in college—the 7-foot-4 Edey completed. It was not really important..

And please extend a formal welcome to UConn’s to the blue blood club, if that was not already the case. With their victory on Monday, the Huskies surpassed Duke, who has five NCAA titles, and entered a tie for third place all-time with North Carolina. Only Kentucky (eight) and UCLA (11) have more. The fact that Connecticut has won six titles in a 25-year period since 1999, under three different coaches, only serves to solidify the team’s status in college basketball history.

Dan Hurley: “For the last 25, 30 years, UConn’s been running college basketball.”

Six titles in 25 years, hard to argue.

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) April 9, 2024

The same can be said of Hurley; the 51-year-old is now only the third active Division I men’s coach with multiple national titles, joining Bill Self and Rick Pitino.

He should get a lot of credit for UConn’s brilliant strategy on Monday night. It is not possible to stop Edey. Edey faced off against 7-foot-2 UConn center Donovan Clingan (11 points, five rebounds), one of the best big men in the country, but the Big Maple was always going to win. 16 of Purdue’s 30 points in the first half came from him. However, UConn responded quickly, preventing Edey from scoring in the last 5:47 seconds before halftime. The Huskies increased their lead to six during that time.

At the same time, UConn utterly destroyed Purdue, which came in as the nation’s second-best 3-point shooting team with a 40.6 percent deep shooting percentage. Hurley gave Purdue’s perimeter players little breathing room by not using UConn’s guards to aid when Edey got the ball inside. As an example, consider the fact that Purdue made just one 3-point shot in the game’s opening 17 minutes. The Boilermakers did not really make a triple until 2:17 before halftime, when Braden Smith hit a fadeaway three-pointer with the shot clock running out.

The philosophical differences between the two teams were striking from an offensive standpoint. Edey made more shots than the rest of the Purdue team combined in the first half, taking 12 of the team’s 28 attempts. On the other hand, UConn relied on their depth and balance even though Cam Spencer scored seven of the team’s first eleven points. Before any non-Edey Boilermaker made three or more baskets, four different Huskies—Spencer, Clingan, Hassan Diarra, and Tristen Newton, the most outstanding player of the tournament—had made at least three.

Purdue found it unable to maintain such duality from their opening possession of the second half onward. After Edey missed a bunny inside, UConn converted it into a Newton 3 on the other end, forcing Purdue into an early danger zone with a crucial five-point swing. Subsequently, the contest between KenPom’s top two teams, which had been back-and-forth for the fourth time since 2005, turned into an unbalanced, 20-minute march towards UConn’s crowning achievement. A stunning putback dunk by rookie Camden Heide following another Edey miss gave the Boilermakers a fleeting glimmer of optimism. After that, they went 4:29 without making a field goal, allowing UConn to extend their advantage to 16. With a final line of 20 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds, Newton was the maestro bringing it all together in front of the enthusiastic 74,423 spectators in the arena.

When Purdue coach Matt Painter realized his team was losing the game, he swiftly called a timeout. The final basket of the run came from a Diarra layup in transition.

And he was almost right. Except the game wasn’t getting away by then; it was gone.

(Photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)