UConn claims second straight national title in dominant 75-60 win against Purdue
Once again, UConn turned a tightly contested game into a blowout in the second half Monday, cruising to a 75-60 victory against Purdue to claim its second straight national championship. With the win, the Huskies improved a 6-0 all-time when they appear in the title game.
UConn opened the second half on an 11-4 run after already holding a six-point lead at halftime to break open the game and pull away for good. Tristen Newton led the Huskies with 20 points to go along with seven assists and five rebounds in the win.
UConn led by as many as 18 points in the second half as it won all six of its NCAA Tournament appearances by double digits. It felt like the start of a dynasty under Hurley, who has a 140-58 victory in six seasons in Storrs.
It was the national title match that most hoped for to start things off as the teams remained close throughout the entire first half. Neither team led by more than three points for the first 15 minutes before UConn pulled away to take a 36-30 advantage into halftime.
The Huskies couldn’t stop Edey in the early going as he recorded 16 points and five rebounds in the first half. He got off to a hot start to score 11 points across the first 10 minutes of the half before coming back down to reality as the Huskies defense tightened up.
Edey ended the contest with 37 points and 10 rebounds in the loss, accounting for more than half of the Boilermakers’ points.
Dan Hurley makes major statement on UConn
For the second year in a row, UConn is the final team standing in the NCAA Tournament. Dan Hurley has made history as a head coach with back-to-back national championships. The Huskies were dominant all season long and everybody inside of the locker room knew it.
Moments before the title game against Purdue, Hurley made sure to remind his players. He told them going out there and executing as normal would result in bringing the program a sixth national title, all coming since the 1999 season.
“The message was, we’re the best team in the country,” Hurley said to Ernie Johnson will on the podium. “Purdue is clearly the second-best team in the country. Play to our identity, be who we’ve been all year, and we’ll be champions.”