Connecticut beats San Diego State to win fifth NCAA men’s basketball title after dominating tournament

CNN
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The University of Connecticut won its fifth men’s basketball national title with a 76-59 victory over San Diego State University on Monday night at NRG Stadium in Houston.

Senior guard Tristen Newton led UConn (31-8) with 19 points and 10 rebounds while Final Four MVP Adama Sanogo, a junior forward, had 17 points and 10 rebounds.

“We were unranked coming into the year, so we were on the defensive,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley told CBS. “We knew what level we could play at, even during those tough times.” he added, referring to the team’s six losses in eight games during the regular season.

He said that before the tournament his group had the confidence gained during the season.

“And when you have the type of leaders like Andre Jackson (match-high six assists on Monday) and Adama Sanogo, they kept this team together, got us back on track and we knew we were the best team in the tournament and we just had to play to our level,” he added.

San Diego State (32-7) was dominated by Keshad Johnson who scored 14 points.

UConn trailed early, but San Diego State was undone by an 11-minute, 8-second stretch in which they made just five free throws and missed 12 straight shots. The Huskies went from 10-6 down to 36-24 at halftime.

The Aztecs made a run midway through the second half and cut the deficit to five at 60-55 with 5:19 left, but the Huskies scored the next nine to take a comfortable lead into the final two minutes.

“We fought. We got within five points in the second half, but we gave them too much room,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said. “We needed to be at our best. We weren’t at our best. A lot of that had to do with UConn.”

Senior guard Adam Seiko told reporters they gave themselves a chance with their second-half comeback, but UConn “just made a few more plays” at the end.

“They’ve got a lot of weapons. They’ve been pretty good,” said Matt Bradley, also a senior guard. “To beat them, we had to make shots. I didn’t shoot well. And we had to have a really good game to beat those guys on offense.”

UConn has won each of its six tournament games by at least 10 points, with its closest game being a 13-point victory over the University of Miami in the national semifinals.

“I just want to thank my teammates, my coaches who believed in me. Without them, I wouldn’t be here today,” Sanogo told CBS.

Jordan Hawkins, who scored 16 points for UConn, spoke about her victory a day after her cousin, Louisiana State University’s Angel Reese, won the women’s title.

“I mean, it’s absolutely incredible that we’re both getting this opportunity and I mean the family reunion is going to be awesome, that’s all I know,” he said.

UConn enters the zeitgeist by becoming the sixth team to win five NCAA men’s basketball championships, joining UCLA (11), Kentucky (eight), North Carolina (six), Duke (five) and Indiana (five). All of UConn’s titles have come since 1999, with the most recent before Monday coming in 2014.

UConn women’s teams have won 11 national basketball titles.