UConn becomes 1st back-to-back national champion since 2007 with win over Purdue
Apr 8, 2024, 8:53 PM | Updated: 9:20 pm
The Connecticut Huskies celebrate after beating the Purdue Boilermakers 75-60 to win the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament National Championship game at State Farm Stadium on April 08, 2024 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
UConn men’s basketball outscored Purdue 39-30 in second half to defeat the Boilermakers 75-60 and win its sixth national championship in program history Monday at State Farm Stadium.
The Huskies, led by head coach Dan Hurley, became the first repeat champion since the 2006-07 Florida Gators. They dominated throughout the tournament as their lowest margin of victory in a game was 14 points.
The Huskies +140 point differential is the largest single-tournament differential ever. The Kentucky Wildcats’ +129 in the 1996 tournament was the previous best.
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The 2024 Huskies are the sixth team to win all six tournament games by double-digit margins.
Zach Edey led in scoring for the Boilermakers with 37 points and 10 rebounds. He had at least a 20-point double-double in every game of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
After a six-point lead by the Huskies at halftime, they led by as many 18 points in the second half as Tristen Newton led in scoring with 20 points as well as finishing with seven assists and five rebounds.
The Boilermakers struggled to score with no field goals made for 4.5 minutes in the second half and the Huskies went on a 9-2 scoring run over that span.
The Huskies limited the country’s second-best 3-point shooting team to a mere seven shots behind the arc — Purdue only made one. Cam Spencer, a transfer from Rutgers, Stephon Castle, a blue-chip freshman, and Alex Karaban, a sophomore from last year’s team, spent the night guarding the 3-point line and making life miserable for Purdue’s guards.
The Huskies had scoring help from the bench as Hassan Diarra scored nine of the team’s 13 points off the bench. The Boilermakers struggled to get points from their bench with only two.
Hurley became the first coach to win back-to-back championships since Billy Donovan with Florida in 2007. The exclusive coaching club also includes names like John Wooden and Mike Krzyzewski.
Attendance for the Final Four and Championship game
Monday’s national championship game in Glendale had an attendance of 74,423, the third-highest in championship game history.
The two-day Final Four attendance was 149,143, the fifth-highest ever for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
