NCAA March Madness 2023: UConn secure fifth men's basketball title
Tristen Newton led UConn Huskies with 19 points in their 76-59 victory over San Diego State Aztecs.
Basketball
University of Connecticut Huskies held on in the second half for a 76-59 win over San Diego State Aztecs in the men's NCAA basketball final on Monday (3 April).
The victory in Houston saw UConn claim a fifth national basketball championship with their first coming in 1999 and their fourth in 2014.
The Huskies became just the second team seeded fourth - after Arizona in 1997 - to win the NCAA tournament since team seedings began in 1985.
It was a dominant victory for UConn who established a 16-point advantage before taking a lead of 12 into half-time.
Tristen Newton scored 19 points while Adama Sanogo scored 17 and grabbed 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the tournament. Sanogo was named the Most Outstanding Player of the championship.
San Diego State led 10-8 early on but then went over 11 minutes without a field goal with UConn going 16 clear.
It was 36-24 at the half with the Aztecs staging something of a comeback in the final quarter. They cut the lead to five with five minutes to go, but a three-pointer from Jordan Hawkins - whose cousin Angel Reese led LSU to the women's NCAA title 24 hours earlier - steadied the ship for UConn who eventually won by 17.
Monday’s win continued an amazing run for UConn who won all six of their NCAA games by double digits, a feat last achieved by Villanova in 2018.
"We knew we were the best team in the tournament going in, and we just had to play to our level," said Dan Hurley, who joined Jim Calhoun and Kevin Ollie as the third coach to lead UConn to a title.
"We weren't ranked going into the year, so we had the chip on our shoulder. We knew the level that we could play at, even through those dark times." - Dan Hurley - UConn coach