Huskies storm into title game
Strong run through the tournament continues with wire-to-wire victory against Hurricanes
A field with three first-time teams and four-time national champion Connecticut would make it natural to dub the Final Four as the UConn invitational.
The Huskies, who’ve rampaged through the NCAA Tournament, did their part Saturday night to reinforce the point that they’re the team to beat.
UConn waltzed past former Big East rival Miami 72-59 on Saturday night at NRG Stadium, clinching a berth opposite San Diego State in the championship game at 8:20 p.m. Monday.
Fourth-seeded UConn (30-8) will try to win its fifth national title under a third different coach. The Huskies also won it all in 1999, 2004, 2011 and 2014. The 2011 championship, the last under program patriarch Jim Calhoun, was won at NRG Stadium in another Final Four that didn’t have a No. 1 seed.
“There’s a lot of teams that want to play Monday,” UConn forward Adama Sanogo said. “It means a lot to us. It means everything we work for. The work has paid off, and still going and keep working and be able to go Monday night.”
The fourth-seeded Huskies have rampaged through the tournament, winning their five games by an average of 20.6 points, with Saturday’s game the closest margin. Sanogo led the Huskies with 21 points, while Jordan Hawkins pitched in 13.
UConn never trailed against Miami, with the closest the Hurricanes getting was within eight points near the midpoint of the second half. The Huskies restored order with a quick 7-0 run and Miami never seriously threatened the rest of the way.
“We don’t stop,” UConn sophomore guard Jordan Hawkins said. “We keep putting our foot on their neck. We have a really tough team. I think we can out-tough anybody. Our defense is top-tier. We play two halves together. A lot of teams only play one.”
UConn improved to 9-1 alltime in the Final Four. The only time the Huskies have lost on college basketball’s biggest stage was in the 2009 semifinals in Detroit against Michigan State, playing in the shadow of its East Lansing campus.
Miami (29-7), which made it to NRG after knocking off topseeded Houston in the Sweet 16 and No. 2 Texas in the Midwest region final, saw its first Final Four end in a hail of missed shots, with the Hurricanes shooting an abysmal 32 percent as they found themselves playing from behind for almost the entire game.
Things got so bad for Miami at one point that star guard Nijel Pack was forced out of the game after his shoe broke and team managers had to scurry around to find a replacement pair.
UConn led 37-24 at halftime, with Alex Karaban’s 3-pointer as the half expired providing a punctuation mark.
Miami, which was lights-out from distance in ousting UH in the Sweet 16, shot a frigid 25 percent during the first half, including a woeful 1-for-12 stretch to start the game.
UConn set an immediate tone, taking a 9-0 lead to start the game on a 3-pointer by Hawkins and consecutive triples from Sanogo.
Miami, trailing 14-4 at one point, rallied to tie the score at 19-after Pack’s 3-pointer with 8:20 left in the half.
But the Huskies then hit the Hurricanes with an 8-0 run and re-established their doubledigit lead before Karaban capped the half with his 3pointer from the left wing.
Sanogo paced the Huskies with 13 first-half points, clearly showing no ill effects from fasting from sunup to sundown for Ramadan.