UConn won a second straight NCAA mens basketball championship on Monday night, defeating Purdue in a 75-60 win over the Boilermakers at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The victory makes UConn the first team since Florida in 2006 and 2007 to win back-to-back men’s basketball national titles.
UConn coach Dan Hurley said: “You can’t even wrap your mind around it because you know how hard this tournament is …What could you say? We won — by a lot again. I think it’s up there in terms of the greatest two-year runs that a program maybe has ever had. I just think it’s the best two-year run I think in a very, very long time just because of everything we lost from last year’s team. To lose that much, and again, to do what we did again, it’s got to be as impressive a two-year run as a program’s had since prior to whoever did it before Duke. To me, it’s more impressive than what Florida and Duke did because they brought back their entire teams. We lost some major players.” (per ESPN).
UConn’s victory was led by All-American guard Tristen Newton (20 points), freshman star Stephon Castle (15 points), and sharpshooter Cam Spencer (11 points); they trailed after falling behind 23-21 with 8:07 remaining in the first half. Purdue star Zach Edey finished with 37 points and 10 rebounds in the final game of his college career, as he plans on declaring for the 2024 NBA Draft. Edey, a two-time National Player of the Year, recorded at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in seven consecutive NCAA Tournament games.
The Huskies’ last two seasons have shown their dominance: they won each of their 2024 NCAA tournament games by at least 14 points; while one season ago, UConn won its six tournament games by at least 13 points.
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