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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 Tristan Newton led UConn (31-8) with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Final Four Most Outstanding Player Adama Sanogo, a junior forward, led the way with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
“We weren’t ranked going into the year so we had a chip on our shoulder,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley told game broadcaster CBS. “We knew the level at which we could play, even in those difficult times,” he said, referencing the team’s six losses in eight games during the regular season.
He said going into the tournament had given his group confidence during the season.
“And when you have leaders like Andre Jackson (game-high six assists on Monday) and Adama Sanogo, they put 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 at our level.”
San Diego State (32-7) was led by Keshad Johnson with 14 points.
UConn fell behind early but San Diego State trailed during a span of 11 minutes, eight seconds in which they made only five free throws and missed 12 consecutive shots from the field. The Huskies went from being down 10–6 to up 36–24 at halftime.
The Aztecs took the lead midway through the second half and cut the deficit to five at 60–55 with 5:19 minutes remaining, but the Huskies scored the next nine to take a comfortable lead over the final two minutes.
“We battled. Battled to the five in the second half, but gave them a lot of separation,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said. “We had to play our best. We didn’t play our best. Had a lot to do with UConn.”
Senior guard Adam Seiko told reporters that they gave themselves a chance with the comeback in the second half but in the end UConn “played a little harder”.
“They have a lot of weapons. They were very good,” said Matt Bradley, also a senior guard. “To beat them, we had to make shots. I made bad shots. And to beat those guys on the offensive end you have to have a really good game.”
UConn won each of its six tournament games by at least 10 points, 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. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here right now,” Sanogo told CBS.
Jordan Hawkins, who scored 16 points for UConn, talked about winning the crown a day after her cousin, Louisiana State University’s Angel Reese, won the women’s title.
“I mean it’s absolutely amazing that we both got this opportunity and I mean the family reunion is going to be great, so I just know,” he said.
UConn enters rare air as 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 and the most recent before Monday came in 2014.
UConn women’s teams have won 11 basketball national titles.