The UConn Huskies and San Diego State Aztecs will meet Monday in the championship game of the NCAA basketball tournament. UConn went wire to wire in their victory over Miami 72-59 while SDSU used a buzzer beater to advance at the expense of Florida Atlantic 72-71.
UConn romps their way to the #NationalChampionship with yet another double digit win, covering 5.5 comfortably pic.twitter.com/zLQDb5Mhf4
— BetOnline (@BetOnline_ag) April 2, 2023
Huskies roll into the finals
UConn went wire to wire to beat Miami. It was the Huskies fifth consecutive double-digit win in the tournament. Adama Sanogo had 21 points and 10 rebounds while Jordan Hawkins scored 13. After a quiet game against Gonzaga (10 points on 3 of 11 shooting), Sanogo scored 13 of his points in the first half and made 9 of 11 attempts overall. The junior is averaging 20.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game in tournament play.
San Diego State punched its finals ticket with a dramatic 72-71 victory over Florida Atlantic. Lamont Butler won it at the buzzer for the Aztecs:
LAMONT BUTLER WINS IT AT THE BUZZER 😱
THE AZTECS ARE #NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP BOUND 🔥#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/2sqxu5g05j
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 2, 2023
Afterwards, Butler seemed unfazed by what he had just done:
"This is what I came here to do!"
Lamont Butler says he was comfortable taking the final shot that lifted San Diego State past Florida Atlantic at the buzzer 👏 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/nr61uUSkkI
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 2, 2023
Matt Bradley led San Diego State with 21 points and six rebounds while Butler finished with just nine but arguably the two biggest points in the history of Aztec basketball. SDSU trailed by seven at the half and faced a 14-point deficit at one juncture.
Alijah Martin was high point man for Florida Atlantic with 24 points while freshman Nicholas Boyd added 12. The Owls finish the season at 35-4.
First Look UConn vs. San Diego State
This has been an NCAA tournament for the ages for UConn, which has now beaten five teams by at least 13 points: No. 13 Iona (87-63), No. 5 Saint Mary’s (70-55), No. 8 Arkansas (88-65), No. 3 Gonzaga (82-54) and the Hurricanes.
While the Aztecs are the first team in men’s tournament history to win Elite Eight and Final Four games by one point apiece, UConn was only the eighth team to reach the semifinals having defeated four opponents by 13 or more points.
While San Diego State had never advanced past the Sweet 16 before this season, UConn will play for the fifth national national championship in program history. The Huskies are 4-0 in title games, beating Duke (1999), Georgia Tech (2004), Butler (2011) and Kentucky (2014).
The program’s first three championships came under Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun, while the 2014 team was coached by Kevin Ollie. Current coach Dan Hurley replaced Ollie in 2018 but failed to get the Huskies out of the first round in his previous two tournament appearances.
The #NationalChampionship opening lines are out…what’s the play? 👀 pic.twitter.com/1Kgtb9qE93
— BetOnline (@BetOnline_ag) April 2, 2023
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