GLENDALE, Ariz. – Now the Connecticut Huskies belong to history, and the legendary champions of the past who must make a space.
Move over, Florida. You’re no longer the last repeat winner. They are.
Move over, UCLA and North Carolina. You were the gold standard for dominant rolls through March. But look at what they just did.
Move over Kentucky. You’re no longer the only No. 1 ranked team in more than two decades to run the table in the tournament. They’re with you.
Move over nearly everyone. Only UCLA and Kentucky now have more titles than Connecticut’s six, and only North Carolina has as many. And the Huskies’ half-dozen have all come in a dizzying parade of trophies. It took Kentucky 49 tournaments to go from its first championship to its sixth. It took North Carolina 61. It’s taken Connecticut 25 — a gusher of titles that only UCLA can match.
“For the past 25 or 30 years,” Dan Hurley said Monday night when they handed him the championship trophy, “UConn’s been running college basketball.”
Facing the most fearsome player in the land from Purdue, nothing had changed for Connecticut. The Huskies took the lead like they always do. They controlled the second half like they always do. They won by double digits like they always do. The 75-60 win over the Boilermakers completed a truly remarkable two-year Connecticut show of force. All 12 NCAA tournament games were won by double digits. In the last 10, they never trailed in the second half. They were behind at 1:36 Monday night. That made a total of 6:22 for the entire 2024 tournament.
🏆 UCONN WINS 2024 TITLE: How it happened
They won the Big East season title. Won the league tournament. They began March on a rampage and never stopped. “We wanted to give everything,” Hurley said, “so we could win absolutely everything.” The average winning margin of 23.3 points is the highest on record since the field went to 64 teams in 1985, passing North Carolina’s 2009 record. It was just behind UCLA in 1967, back when the Bruins needed only four games to win the title. What must it be like, to blow through the NCAA tournament like that?
“I think it makes the end of the games easier when you don’t have to shoot free throws or get a bucket to seal the deal,” said Cam Spencer, who transferred from Rutgers to Connecticut to have a chance at this very moment, the lone portal addition in this wave. “We just played every possession like it was our last one.
“I think we had a lot of guys who didn’t want to lose tonight. It’s the best feeling of my life.”
Hurley had long said it plainly about his team: “If we play elite offense, elite defense and beat you on the backboard, we’re tough to beat.”
Or lately, impossible. Monday night was Exhibit A. Balanced offense with four in double figures, led by Tristen Newton’s 20. Sound execution with 48 percent shooting and only eight turnovers. Muscle on the boards with a 35-28 edge in rebounding, only the fourth time this season Purdue has been bettered in that department.
And defense. Lots and lots of defense. You say Zach Edey scored 37 points, the most in a national championship in 46 years? Swell. The Huskies didn’t care. “We were willing to single it up (on Edey),” Hurley said. “The games that they’ve lost this year they didn’t get the production from Loyer, Jones, Smith and Gillis. We wanted to take those four guys out. If Zach went for 48 and those other guys didn’t score they didn’t have a chance to win.”
So Edey got his 37. Fletcher Loyer, Lance Jones, Braden Smith and Mason Gillis went a combined 6-for-22 for only 17 points. The Boilermakers had one 3-pointer. One. That’s the fewest in a title game in 13 years. They only took seven attempts.
Offense, defense, rebounding. Connecticut.
“What you see is what you get,” the Huskies’ senior guard said. “Old school.”
Andrew Hurley, the coach’s son.
Even the victims could see that.
“To win the national championship, then to be back in this position, I think there’s a lot of things that come with ultimate success that’s hard to do, what they’ve been able to do,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “Everybody defends on that team. You’re not allowed to play if you can’t guard. It’s one of those deals, like old school.”
There’s that phrase again. This has been a mission painstakingly planned for and mercilessly executed. Hurley studied repeat champions of the recent past. He was on the phone with Billy Donovan — Florida’s coach for its titles in 2006-07 — a week after the Huskies’ championship run last April. He knew his team was different.
“I kind of hit that emotional crash when it’s over and it doesn’t feel like maybe what you thought it would in terms of that…
Read More: UConn builds a longstanding legacy with 6th national title, ‘old school’ methods