HOUSTON – Take the poster board trophy off the easel and make it three dimensional.
In the Space City, UConn men’s basketball is back on top of the world.
The Huskies capped off their magical tournament mission with a 76-59 victory over San Diego State in Monday’s national championship game and are bringing their fifth real, gold-detailed walnut prize back to Storrs.
Adama Sanogo and Tristen Newton each came up huge for UConn down the stretch in the second half, both finishing the game with double-doubles. Newton scored 19 points with 10 rebounds while Sanogo added 17 and 10.
Jordan Hawkins added 15 points as the Huskies secured a sixth-straight tournament win by double-digits, then shared long embraces as head coach Dan Hurley emptied his bench for the sixth-straight game.
Both teams made four of their first five shots to start the game in front of a fairly split crowd of 72,423 at NRG Stadium. Tough shots falling everywhere, San Diego State had a 10-6 advantage but UConn’s defense tightened up and forced 14-straight missed field goals from the Aztecs over more than 11 minutes. The Huskies capitalized with a 20-7 run that gave them a 26-17 lead with about five minutes left in the first half.
Then Newton erupted. The junior transfer scored seven straight points capped off by a 3-pointer that caused pandemonium inside the packed NFL stadium. Fan favorite Joey Calcaterra followed it up with a 3-pointer in transition that extended UConn’s lead to 16 points, 36-20.
Hurley and his associate head coach Kimani Young had to jump the team after a fairly careless start to the second half – they each stomped on the sideline and roared: “WAKE UP.”
After San Diego State cut its deficit to 10, Hurley drew up a play for Alex Karaban on the wing that worked to perfection. With a quick release, Karaban’s first 3 of the game stopped the momentum slide.
The Aztecs’ defensive physicality kept UConn without a made field goal for six minutes after Karaban’s shot. Still, UConn was able to stave off the Aztecs and get up 15 thanks to 10 consecutive made free throws, four each from Newton and Sanogo and a pair from Alleyne.
Jaedon Ledee and the Aztecs stormed back with a 9-0 run with just under eight minutes left that brought UConn’s lead down to just six. UConn got it back up to nine but a pair of buckets from SDSU cut it back down to five as the Huskies struggled to get anything to fall from the field.
Then, Hawkins came off a screen and pulled up over two defenders from the top of the key, rattling home a 3-point shot that shifted the momentum right to left and allowed UConn Nation to take a collective breath. The Huskies used a 9-0 run over three minutes, highlighted by Newton and Sanogo, to get up 14 points with just over two minutes to go.
The UConn bench stood together, Donovan Clingan with a towel over his head, leaning back with anxious pain, watching the clock tick down. Joey Calcaterra and Andrew Hurley stood with their arms around each other’s shoulders and just over a minute left, Clingan waved his arms, Hawkins was fouled and egged on the Husky faithful before icing the game at the line.
UConn’s five national championships since 1999 (1999, 2004, 2011, 2014) are the most of any program over that span.
