GLENDALE, Ariz. – The UConn men's basketball team is once again at the top of the basketball world.
Once again, Dan Hurley and the Huskies have won the national championship trophy with a 75-60 victory over Purdue on Monday night, marking their remarkable back-to-back championship win on the biggest stage of the sport.
Hurley expressed his satisfaction with the program's 12th consecutive double-digit win in the NCAA Tournament, stating, "We won by a significant margin once again."
UConn becomes the first men’s team to win consecutive national championships since Florida in 2006-07, and only the third since the NCAA Tournament expanded in 1985. They join the ranks of the 1991 and 1992 Duke teams with this remarkable achievement.
With this victory, UConn now has six titles in six championship game appearances since 1999, tying them with North Carolina for the third-most championships of any program, behind UCLA (11) and Kentucky (8).
Hurley expressed, "For the past 25 to 30 years, UConn has been dominating college basketball."
Bristol native Donovan Clingan shared his overwhelming joy, stating, "I am speechless. It has been the best decision of my life to join UConn. Walking off the court today with no regrets, knowing that you have given your all and achieved everything you possibly could, is an amazing feeling."
The national title marks the conclusion of a phenomenal 37-3 season for UConn, their best in program history, which included Big East regular season and tournament titles.
Clingan, standing at 7-foot-2, was pitted against Purdue’s 7-4 Zach Edey in only the second-ever battle between two 7-foot starters in a national championship game. The first occurred in 1984 between Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing and Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon.
UConn’s star sophomore scored 11 points and secured five rebounds, while Purdue’s Edey managed 37 points and 10 rebounds. However, UConn’s supporting cast, led by All-American point guard Tristen Newton with 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds, along with freshman Stephon Castle's 15 points and Cam Spencer's 11 points and eight boards, outscored Purdue’s backcourt 55-17.
UConn only trailed for one minute and 36 seconds during the game.
Newton received the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament award, while Spencer, Castle and Clingan were named into the All-Tournament team.
Spencer initiated the game with a 3-pointer and contributed seven of UConn’s first 11 points. Meanwhile, Edey, a dominant figure in the low post, scored 14 of Purdue’s initial 23 points.
With 3:29 remaining in the first half, Clingan led the Huskies on a 6-0 run, extending their lead to the largest for either team at that point, 32-25. Braden Smith, who notched nine points in the first half and a total of 12, managed a midrange and a 3-point jumper – Purdue's only successful 3 on seven attempts – reducing the deficit to two. Newton and Castle were the sole contributors of points in the final two minutes, propelling the Huskies into halftime with a 36-30 lead.
In the second half, Newton, who achieved his 2,000th-career point in the first half, set the Huskies in motion with a 3-pointer and subsequently assisted Samson Johnson, resulting in consecutive alley-oop dunks to double their lead.
Newton said they expected the other team to be tired because they saw them getting tired in the first half. He believed they didn't play this type of game. He thought they just needed to keep playing aggressively to win.
The Huskies kept getting into foul trouble. Johnson got his fourth foul around the 14-minute mark, and Clingan got his fourth with 7:52 left. This forced Hurley to put Johnson back in. UConn started to pull away with Alex Karaban's first three-point shot and a Hassan Diarra layup. They were leading by 17 with 5:38 left when Johnson fouled out.
Hurley took a risk by using a small-ball lineup and having 6-foot-9 Karaban guard Edey for the next three minutes. The Huskies kept a 13-point advantage.
Karaban admitted feeling stressed because he had to guard someone much taller who was a very good player. He knew it would be hard to stop him from scoring, so they had to be strategic.
Clingan said their plan was to let Edey score a lot of points and still win the game. They wanted him to make his shots without fouling and to prevent him from making three-pointers.
Edey, who made 15 out of 25 shots, the most in any game this season, kept scoring for the Boilermakers, but the Huskies were able to run down the clock. Hurley put in the bench players with 36 seconds left, and each starter received a bear hug.
Hurley plans to create a championship culture again. They will bring in talented high school freshmen and help the returning players improve through training. They also plan to add new players strategically. Hurley is confident that the team will continue to be successful.
