HOUSTON — In one of the most dominant runs in NCAA tournament history, the UConn Huskies knocked out the San Diego State Aztecs 76-59 to win the National Championship on Monday night.
The Huskies have now won five national championships, all of them coming in the past 24 years. Dan Hurley joins Jim Calhoun — who won titles in 1999, 2004 and 2011 — and Kevin Ollie (2014), to become the third coach to win a title.
Junior center Adama Sanogo finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
San Diego State came out firing from the start, hitting its first two 3-pointers of the game. But after going up 10-6 with 16:32 remaining in the first half, the Aztecs wouldn't make another field goal for 11 minutes.
Darrion Trammell ended the drought with a jumper, but by that point the Aztecs had missed 14 straight shots from the field, and UConn held a double-digit lead.
The Huskies opened up a 16-point lead with 2:55 remaining before halftime and had all the momentum.
UConn was opportunistic in transition during the first half, with Tristen Newton and Andre Jackson consistently pushing the ball up the floor, and Sanogo getting position on the block against a tough San Diego State defense. The Huskies registered six steals and forced nine turnovers, converting them into 11 points.
But San Diego State wouldn't go away, as they came out after halftime with significantly more aggressiveness, especially on the offensive end.
The Aztecs finally cut the deficit to single digits, putting UConn was under the most pressure it had been in for the entire tournament.
And when SDSU got the lead down to as few as five points, it seemed as if they were going to overcome another tournament deficit.
But those hopes lasted for only 15 seconds as UConn immediately came down the floor and found Jordan Hawkins off a curl and he buried a 3-pointer to push the lead back to eight.
The Huskies delivered the knockout blow, by using a 16-4 run put the game out of reach.
Newton played a crucial role in helping UConn pull away, scoring on back-to-back possessions after Hawkins' 3 to provide some breathing room. Newton finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
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