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UConn Wins Back-to-Back National Championships
The Huskies Defeated the Boilermakers 75-60 and Took Home the Natty!
New Dynasty in the Making?
In college basketball news, the UConn Huskies successfully defended their national championship with a 75-60 victory over the Purdue Boilermakers. It was the 10th time that the men’s national championship game has been played between two No. 1 seeds.
Huskies Repeat
The men’s NCAAB tournament finals pitted two No. 1 seeds against each other and although Purdue boasted the 7 ‘4” two-time Player of the Year, Zach Edey, the UConn Huskies had enough in their arsenal to overcome the big man’s 37 points and 10 rebounds. When the dust cleared, the Huskies cruised to a 75-60 win in front of a live audience that drew over 74,000 fans at Glendale’s State Farm Stadium.
BACK TO BACK‼️#EVERYTHING pic.twitter.com/hTs7yCTMAf
— UConn Men’s Basketball (@UConnMBB) April 9, 2024
The men’s UConn basketball team won its second consecutive national title and sixth overall. Four of the Huskies’ five starters ended the night in double-digits with senior guard Tristen Newton leading the charge with 20 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds.
Although the 15-point win featured more than its share of highlight-reel scoring, it was UConn’s suffocating defense that limited one of the most explosive teams in the nation to over 22 points below its 82.3 points per game average.
UConn Was Too Much for Purdue
Purdue fed Zach Edey early and often but the funnel-oriented attack was not enough to overcome the Huskies’ perimeter defense, holding the Boilermakers just to 1-of-7 from beyond the arc, hitting only 14.3% from three-point land.
“They just made a decision — we can defend the perimeter, and we can take this away from you, you’re going to get the ball to your best player, he’ll be 1-on-1, and that’s that,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said.
Rutgers transfer, Cam Spencer, spoke about UConn’s defensive game plan, remarking, “Coaches made a point that we’d be really locked in if we controlled their 3-point attempts. Holding them to seven shows we were locked in on making sure their guards didn’t get involved in the game.”
Cam Spencer flips it up and in 🔥#MarchMadness @UConnMBB pic.twitter.com/JaD9MG9M03
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 9, 2024
Repeat champions have been rare indeed, as UConn became just the third team to win back-to-back titles since John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty of the 1960s and ’70s, joining the 2006-07 Florida Gators and the 1991-92 Duke Blue Devils in that elite category.
Gotta love HYPED Hurley 🔥#MarchMadness @UConnMBB pic.twitter.com/18ypKSyERt
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 9, 2024
Huskies’ coach, Dan Hurley, commented on his team’s tremendous two-year championship reign, saying, “I just think it’s the best two-year run in a very, very long time, just because of everything we lost from last year’s team. To lose that much and do it again, it’s got to be as impressive a two-year run since at least prior to Duke.”
