After an intense match-up between the top two men’s basketball schools in the country, the University of Connecticut Huskies came out victorious in the NCAA men’s Divison I Basketball National Championship beating Purdue University Boilermakers 75-60, retaining their title as National Champions.
Following the weekend of the Final Four match-ups on April 6, the Purdue Boilermakers and UConn Huskies found themselves victorious of their respective games and were set to face each other for the national title.
The UConn Huskies kept their hopes alive to defend their title and earned their sixth overall while Purdue hoped to win their first. The stakes were high and fans were excited.
After a thrilling few minutes of the first half, Purdue Center senior Zach Edey led the boilermaker offense scoring 16 points and securing five rebounds before the halftime buzzer.
Despite the early attack by Purdue, the Huskies stayed in contention by taking hold of their advantageous offense led by senior guard Tristen Newton who scored a total of 20 points, securing five rebounds and seven assists.
While both teams’ defense did not seem to trouble each other as much as the teams anticipated, both Purdue and UConn saw an aggressive attack towards the end of the half.
By the sound of the buzzer, the Purdue boilermakers were trailing by only six points, totaling the halftime score 30-36 with the Huskies taking the lead.
Kicking off the third quarter, UConn’s offense showcased their convincing attack, scrambling the Purdue defense. The response from the boilermakers was not positive as they kept missing important throws which left them with a hefty deficit.
With nine minutes left on the clock, the Husky offense seemed unstoppable and the Boilermakers slowly lost their composure. At this point, the Huskies were up by 17 points.
A minute left on the clock, and fans were already celebrating what was yet another monumental game in the history of college basketball in America. Uconn became the first school to win back-to-back national championships since Bill Donavon’s Florida Gators teams in 2006 and 2007.
