The NCAA Tournament final can seem anticlimactic at times. After all the thrilling upsets and drama, the country’s best team just annihilated another opponent.
But it surely doesn’t seem boring to anyone at UConn. The hoops-crazed campus will revel in this one as they reveled last year. And a few times before that.
Hurley and the Huskies are a combination that has no peer at the moment. The teams that rely on “one-and-done” talent will have a hard time catching up.
Thanks for following along this evening. College basketball resumes in October.
And here’s the game report from tonight’s matchup:
Updated
Asked about his place in history now that he has won back-to-back national championships, Hurley says he’s set to retire.
Is he serious. “No, that’s a lie.”
Updated
Connecticut wins the national championship
Dan Hurley’s son, Andrew, gets into the game. He dribbles until the shot clock expires, just marking time. Purdue doesn’t attempt a shot at the end.
If you’d said before the game that Zach Edey would score 37 points, you’d have to like Purdue’s chances. But the rest of his team combined for 23, with Braden Smith scoring 12. Simply put, no one else stepped up.
UConn had four players in double digits, led by Newton with 20, and three more players who scored. This isn’t a team of stars. They’re just good at every position.
Purdue 60-75 Connecticut, 0:36, second half
Alley-oop to Edey for the dunk, and the crowd doesn’t even react.
Clingan scores inside.
Purdue 58-73 Connecticut, 1:31, second half
UConn runs down the shot clock. Karaban drives and kicks it out to Clingan for a short jumper.
Smith misses a layup, but Edey is there for the putback dunk. He has 35.
Castle hits two free throws.
I need to set my alarm for the morning.
Purdue 56-69 Connecticut, 2:14, second half
Smith fouls Newton two seconds after the inbounds pass. I may have been too optimistic when I said the rest of this game would go quickly.
Newton’s free throws are good, and he has 20.
Edey dunks, and he has 33.
UConn beats the press and calls timeout.
Purdue 54-67 Connecticut, 2:46, second half
Newton hits both free throws. Eight seconds later, he fouls Smith in transition.
Smith misses one and hits one, then gets a hand to the inbounds pass and somehow wins possession. Purdue works it in to Edey, who runs his point total to 31.
And then … what is Dan Hurley thinking? He takes a couple of steps out onto the court while the ball is in play, then taps a player on the back. That’s a turnover.
Lance Jones scores to cut the lead to 13. It’s a 5-0 Purdue run, and they’ll take a timeout.
Purdue 49-65 Connecticut, 3:50, second half
Edey has 29 of Purdue’s 49 points. But he misses a short hook shot, and UConn takes its time bringing up the ball. Newton somehow ends up with Edey guarding him on the perimeter, and he baits the big man into a foul.
TV timeout. That’s the last one. Barring a miracle, the rest of this game should go pretty quickly. No point in calling a bunch of timeouts.
Purdue 49-65 Connecticut, 4:52, second half
Edey slams into Karaban three times to open up enough space to score. I’ll never understand why that’s legal.
Purdue calls timeout.
Purdue 47-65 Connecticut, 5:12, second half
Another good play for Karaban, snagging an offensive rebound to extend a UConn possession that ends in a Newton layup.
Loyer misses a 3 for Purdue, Edey grabs the rebound, and Samson Johnson’s night ends with his fifth foul.
Edey hits one of two free throws. Purdues goes back into the press, but UConn meets the challenges and slows things down on the offensive end. Spencer hits a tough shot in the lane, and this is nearly done.
Purdue 46-61 Connecticut, 6:46, second half
Edey hits both free throws. He has 24.
Purdue goes into a press. UConn beats it and tosses up another alley-oop to Johnson, but he misses the dunk attempt. Edey dunks emphatically, but Karaban dunks at the other end.
Purdue 42-59 Connecticut, 7:52, second half
Edey ends a long Purdue drought with a short bank shot. Castle responds with a 3-pointer.
If you’re looking for a sign of hope for Purdue, Clingan picks up his fourth foul before the TV timeout. But Edey can’t make up this gap by himself, and time will soon become a factor.
Purdue 40-56 Connecticut, 9:27, second half
Alex Karaban missed his first four 3-point shots tonight, but he hits this one to give UConn a 14-point lead.
Make it 16, as Loyer misses for Purdue and Diarra scores on a nifty layup in transition.
Purdue timeout. This is slipping away.
Purdue 40-51 Connecticut, 10:20, second half
It’s all going wrong for Edey at the moment. He misses a free throw. He travels, turning the ball back to UConn.
No one has scored in almost two minutes of game time. Finally, Braden Smith hits two free throws for Purdue.
Purdue 38-51 Connecticut, 11:31, second half
Spencer’s having a nice game for UConn. He hits a layup to stop Purdue’s mini-run. Then he soars for a rebound and absorbs a hard foul. Newton scores at the other end on a wild layup, again managing to fling it over Edey, to run the lead back to 13.
TV timeout. Newton has 16.
Purdue 38-47 Connecticut, 13:42, second half
Last night, when South Carolina pushed the lead to double digits, I didn’t see a way back for Iowa. But tonight, I think Purdue has a chance to stick around. Samson Johnson picks up his third foul, and UConn might run out of people who can guard Edey.
Edey hits two free throws. But at the other end, after two missed UConn 3-point attempts, he fouls Johnson. That’s two in quick order.
Johnson, though, sets an illegal screen on the inbounds play to get his fourth foul. Clingan returns, but on his first defensive play, he interferes with the basket as Edey forces the ball through.
Purdue 34-47 Connecticut, 14:19, second half
Edey hasn’t scored in 10 minutes. With Clingan benched due to foul trouble, he’ll face a double-team instead. He opens this phase of the game with a turnover.
Remember the momentum swing a few minutes ago? Yeah. It’s gone. Newton tosses up a nice alley-oop to Samson Johnson. Gillis badly misses a 3, and Edey commits a foul in the ensuing scramble.
Then Newton again feeds Johnson for the alley-oop dunk.
Purdue 34-43 Connecticut, 15:54, second half
This is getting messy. I have no idea how the refs called Purdue’s Lance Jones for a block when Castle clearly plowed into him.
But Castle misses two free throws, and Camden Heide gets his name on the scoresheet with an emphatic putback dunk off another Edey miss. THAT could change the momentum.
Or Castle could just score over Edey.
The bad news for UConn before the TV timeout: Clingan just picked up his third foul.
Purdue 32-41 Connecticut, 17:23, second half
Ouch. Edey sets a screen, rolls into the post, goes up for a dunk … and it clanks away.
But after a messy sequence, Kaufman-Renn gets Purdue on the board at close range.
Castle answers to restore the nine-point margin.
Purdue 30-39 Connecticut, 18:37, second half
Finally, after a 20-minute halftime, we’re ready to resume.
Clingan fouls Edey, but then he stops Edey from scoring. At the other end, Clingan snares a rebound and kicks it out to Newton for a 3. The lead is nine.
Does this halftime seem longer than the halftime in the women’s final? Hmmm … I posted the halftime score at 10:12 pm ET, and it’s now 10:29 … yeah, that’s a bit longer than is typical. Not nice for those of us on the East Coast who have to get up in the morning.
Funny social media comment shared on TV at the half – the eclipse (visible in much of the central and eastern US today) was just Edey standing up.
A few halftime stats …
Edey has 16 points, but most of them were in a single outburst. Smith has 9 for Purdue. Only two other players have scored for the Boilermakers.
UConn is more balanced – Newton has 11, and Clingan, Spencer and Diarra have 7 each. Castle has 4.
Rebounds: Slight edge (16-15) to UConn.
Fouls? What fouls? Purdue attempted only 4 free throws, hitting 3. UConn attempted only 3, hitting them all.
Halftime: Purdue 30-36 Connecticut
Purdue tries a 3 out of the timeout, but Karaban recovers from biting on a fake to block the shot.
After a bit of momentary confusion because someone didn’t switch the possession arrow (cardinal sin at the scorer’s table), Clingan tries a 3. It’s off the mark, but UConn retains possession and scores on a tip by Castle.
Clingan steals on the defensive end, and UConn holds for the last shot of the half. Spencer fakes nicely but can’t hit the shot.
Hurley says he’s happy with the pace of the game. He thinks that’ll favor UConn. So far, at least, he’s right. Six-point Huskies lead at the half.
Purdue 30-34 Connecticut, 1:33, first half
Newton hits a quick shot out of the timeout.
Edey misses again. Like Caitlin Clark last night, the star player on the court has suddenly gone cold, but Clingan’s defense has a lot to do with that.
Purdue has trouble finding an open player for an inbounds pass, and the Boilermakers call timeout.
Purdue 30-32 Connecticut, 2:09, first half
Castle pushes the lead to seven, but Smith answers with an open 12-foot jumper.
After Castle commits an offensive foul, Smith hits a 3 with the shot clock running down to cut the lead to two. Hurley calls timeout.
Purdue 25-30 Connecticut, 3:49, first half
Matt Painter chats as they come back from the TV timeout, fretting a bit about Purdue’s defense.
But the more interesting bit of video shows Dan Hurley complaining to the officials about a screen set by Edey, and then Hurley and Edey having a few words.
Clingan asserts his presence on offense with a nice post move to score and earn a free throw, which he converts.
Then Hurley gets even madder, as Edey tips in a shot that looked perilously close to basket interference. I’d like a replay, please.
Clingan calms his coach’s nerves by scoring again and forcing Edey into a bad shot. Newton scores at the other end, and UConn suddenly has a bit of a lead.
Loyer drives the lane for Purdue, but Spencer again proves valuable for UConn, knocking the ball off Loyer and out of play. TV timeout, and it’ll be UConn’s ball when we resume.
Purdue 23-23 Connecticut, 7:12, first half
Great feed to Clingan, but he fails to convert, and Edey rips away the rebound. Purdue is off to the races, and Smith strikes to tie the game once again.
A couple of sloppy possessions follow, but then Edey scores once again to put Purdue in front.
UConn was the clear favorite coming into this game, but I wonder if the odds have tightened yet.
Newton bravely drives at Edey and somehow gets his layup to go.
Purdue 19-21 Connecticut, 9:49, first half
Dan Hurley takes his turn being interviewed coming out of the timeout. He’s asked about guarding Edey. “What we’re doing right now is not sustainable.” King of the understatement, Mr. Hurley is.
Samson Johnson draws his second foul in quick succession, cueing Clingan’s return.
Braden Smith banks in an equalizer for Purdue.
Edey gets his third block. Alex Karaban answers with his first, and Diarra hits a 3 in transition to put UConn back in front.
Back on offense, Edey gets fouled and hits one of two.
Purdue 16-18 Connecticut, 11:28, first half
Hassan Diarra adds two for UConn with a nice drive, but then Edey puts on a show at the other end, posting up and pivoting against Clingan to get free, score and draw the foul. He hits the free throw and now has Purdue’s last 11 points.
Diarra makes another layup. Colvin tries a 3 and misses for Purdue, but Edey keeps the ball alive so that teammate Mason Gillis can snag the rebound. He’s fouled, and that takes us to the TV timeout.
Curious sequence – Edey has a massive size mismatch while Clingan sits out for a bit, but he opts instead to pass it back out.
Purdue 13-14 Connecticut, 13:05, first half
So the interior battle has materialized as expected, like Andre the Giant battling Shaquille O’Neal. But Spencer, the senior playing at his third school after Loyola (Md.) and Rutgers, is the wild card making the difference at the moment.
Braden Smith, though, shows us that Purdue’s backcourt is up for the challenge, driving and tossing the ball to the rim for Edey to slam for an emphatic equalizer despite Clingan’s effort to recover. That’s six for Edey already.
Newton hits a 3 from the corner.
Smith misses a layup, but UConn is unable to add to its lead thanks to Edey, who swats away two shots in short order as if playing volleyball. Edey then comes back and scores at the other end – that’s eight.
Purdue 9-11 Connecticut, 15:04, first half
Kaufman-Renn drives, but Clingan is waiting for him and swats it away. Spencer goes the other way for a smooth layup to put UConn ahead.
Edey posts up Clingan, and this time, he makes the trademark hook shot.
Clingan gets a measure of revenge at the other end as Spencer, the MVP of the first four minutes, fakes out the entire defense and dishes for an easy dunk.
Edey posts up again and scores.
Spencer fakes out defenders again and scores. He has seven already.
Edey posts up again and misses wildly.
UConn turnover takes us to the TV timeout.
Purdue 5-5 Connecticut, 17:45, first half
Lance Jones drives for a difficult layup, makes it and is fouled. The Purdue guard makes the free throw.
Newton works inside and draws a foul. Fletcher Loyer, on whom the foul was called, disagrees. Newton hits both free throws, and we’re tied.
Purdue 2-3 Connecticut, 18:30, first half
Edey will have a battle tonight against 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan, and his first shot barely reaches the rim.
UConn misses a 3, and then Trey Kaufman-Renn opens the scoring for Purdue.
Cam Spencer answers with a 3.
When is tipoff? Probably not too much longer. We’ve had a lovely rendition of the national anthem, and now we’re getting player introductions.
The game is in State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., which has also hosted three Super Bowls. The court situation is interesting – players have to walk up a couple of steps from the bench to the playing surface.
About Purdue
The Boilermakers boast one of the best nicknames in college sports. What they lack is a history of Final Four appearances. They’ve been perpetually simmering in the “good but not great” category.
But coach Matt Painter has won 447 games at his alma mater. With Zach Edey owning the post, Purdue has put together three strong years – 29-8, 29-6 and 34-4.
Like UConn, Purdue has a paucity of big-name recruits but plenty of experience. Even Edey wasn’t considered a top-tier recruit upon his arrival four years ago.
And while Edey has won consecutive national player of the year honors, he’s still fighting for recognition. Most NBA mock drafts place in in the low first round or maybe the second round.
Edey averages 24.9 points and 12.2 rebounds. He has a perfect complement in sophomore guard Braden Smith, who averages 12.0 points and 7.5 assists.
About UConn
Or “Connecticut,” to give the more formal name.
When people talk about “blue bloods” in college basketball, they talk about North Carolina, Kentucky and Duke in particular. If they’re not talking about Connecticut as well, they haven’t been paying attention.
National champions in 1999. And 2004. And 2011. And 2014. And last year.
Yes, if basketball champions hosted Saturday Night Live, UConn would have a Five-Timers Club jacket.
This year, they’ve made it this far with an old-school approach. Their two leading scorers in a balanced attack, Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer, aren’t flashy one-and-dones. They’re seniors.
The Huskies didn’t load up in the transfer portal, either. Spencer transferred in from Rutgers, and they have a solid freshman in Stephon Castle, but the rest of the team’s core returns from last season.
Connecticut’s coach is Dan Hurley, who hasn’t spent much of his career in the spotlight. When he played in college at Seton Hall, he was overshadowed by his brother Bobby, who led Duke to consecutive national championships. He coached high school basketball for a decade before taking over at Wagner in 2010 and moving to Rhode Island in 2012. Bobby was actually his assistant before embarking on his own coaching career at Buffalo and Arizona State.
The Hurley patriarch, Bob Hurley, is a legendary high school coach who spent several decades at St. Anthony’s in New Jersey.
Interesting question Bryan discusses below – who is the women’s college basketball GOAT?
You could make a case for Brittney Griner, who led a Baylor team featuring just one other eventual WNBA player (Odyssey Sims) to a 40-0 record in 2011-12. In her last three seasons, Baylor’s record was 108-5.
You could go back to the 80s and consider Cheryl Miller, who won the Wooden Award three straight years. But the college game was still relatively new at that point, with a dearth of schools devoting many resources …
What? The men’s game? Oh, right …
To be honest, the whole “women better than men now” trope is uninteresting. Why judge one against the other? Nothing wrong with seeing women’s basketball getting its due, thanks to a generational talent and other compelling stories. But the men deserve some attention as well.
What a weird sentence to write.
So please enjoy the next few hours as we follow along to see if Connecticut can become the first repeat men’s champion since Florida in 2006 and 2007 or if dominant big man Zach Edey (7-foot-4, or 2.24 meters) can lead Purdue to its first national championship.
Updated
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Bryan Graham on the growth of the women’s game:
After the curtain finally dropped on Caitlin Clark’s collegiate career and the last of the garnet and black confetti had fallen at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Sunday afternoon, the all-time scoring leader in major college basketball history could finally reflect on a season that has recalibrated all expectations for how women’s sports can be covered, commercialized and consumed.
Twice in the last week alone Clark’s games have set new television ratings records for women’s college basketball with a third for the title game almost certain when Sunday’s overnights are released. Even South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley, having just completed a perfect season for a second NCAA title in three years with a team who had graduated all five starters, probably her best piece of coaching work yet, couldn’t make it far into her victory speech before paying tribute to the woman of the moment, saying: “I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport.”
Whether Clark is the greatest college player to ever lace them up is subject to debate – it’s still Maya Moore for me – but there’s no question the Hawkeyes star has done more to attract mainstream attention to the women’s game than anyone before her. Since drawing a record 55,646 fans for an October preseason game in an outdoor football stadium, Clark and the Hawkeyes became appointment viewing. Iowa’s win over LSU in the Elite Eight drew 12.3m US television viewers, making it one of the most watched sporting events of the past year outside the NFL. Their Final Four contest with Connecticut on Saturday night bested it, averaging 14.2m viewers and peaking at 17m, better than every World Series and NBA finals game last year.
You can read the full article below:
