UConn beats San Diego State 76-59 to win 5th national championship

HOUSTON (AP)— UConn topped off one of the most impressive March Madness runs inhistory Monday night, clamping down early and breaking it open lateto bring home its fifth national title with a 76-59 victory overSan Diego State.

Adama Sanogohad 17 points and 10 rebounds and Tristen Newton also had adouble-double with 19 points and 10 boards for the Huskies (31-8),who became the fifth teamsince the bracket expandedin1985 to win all six NCAA Tournament games by double-digits on theway to a championship.

They won thesix games by an average of an even 20 points, only a fraction lessthan what North Carolina did in sweeping to the title in 2009.

UConn built a16-point lead late in the first half, only to see the Aztecs (32-7)trim the lead to five with 5:19 left. But Jordan Hawkins (16points) answered with a 3 to trigger a 9-0 run and the only dramaleft was whether UConn would cover the 7.5-point spread and gosix-for-six with double-digit wins.

UCONN HAS WON THE MEN’S NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP 🏆What a dominant tournament from the Huskies 😤 pic.twitter.com/S5J5ROU1NJ

KeshadJohnson had 14 points for San Diego State, which came up one winshy in its first trip to the Final Four.

UConn set thestage for this one over an 11:07 stretch in the first half duringwhich the Aztecs didn’t make a single basket. Unable to shoot overor go around this tall, long UConn team, they missed 14 straightshots from the floor.

They wentfrom leading by four to trailing by 11, and when they weren’tgetting shots blocked (Alex Karaban had three and Sanogo had one)or altered on the inside, they were coming up short — a telltalesign of a team that was out of hops after that draining 72-71buzzer-beater win over Florida Atlantic two nights earlier.

UConn fanBill Murray was one of the few celebrities on hand to watch theHuskies make it five for five in title games in one of the mostunexpected Final Fours in history. This one marked the last thatJim Nantz would call after 37 years behind the mic.

He’s had alot of UConn stories to tell, though this certainly wasn’t the mostdramatic.

Even withthat brief bout of uncertainty midway through the second half,UConn never truly let the Aztecs, who overcame a 14-point deficitin the semifinal, start thinking about any more last-seconddramatics.

This was ateam built strictly for 2023 — replenished by coach Dan Hurley, whowent to the transfer portal to find more outside shooting afterback-to-back first-round exits in the tournament.

And yet,there was something decidedly old-school about the way the Huskiestook care of business in the early going.

They didn’teven think much about 3-point shooting at the start, instead skippassing into Sanogo on the post and wearing down SDSU whilebuilding the early lead.

The Aztecswere too good a team to cave and an over-pursuing defense is whattriggered the late run to within five. A team built on defense onlyshot 32% from the floor.

And after itslate run, they started getting burned and Hurley and Co. werehugging it out on the bench before the buzzer.

UConn’slatest coronation makes Hurley the third coach to bring a trophyhome to Storrs, Connecticut. He joins Jim Calhoun (1999, 2004,2001) and Kevin Ollie (2014).