All eyes in the men’s college basketball world will be set on NRG Stadium in Houston Monday night, as two teams from opposite sides of the country — Connecticut and San Diego State — will square off for an NCAA championship (9:20 p.m., CBS).
The fourth-seeded Huskies (30-8) were winners of the West Region, while the fifth-seeded Aztecs (32-6) prevailed out of the South Region to get to Houston.
In Saturday’s semifinals, UConn did what it’s done the entire tournament: not only did the Huskies advance past No. 5 seed Miami (the Midwest Region winners), but they did so by double digits. In their five games in the Big Dance, the Huskies have won by margins of 24, 15, 23, 28 and 13 points — an average differential of 20.6 per contest.
UConn jumped out to an early 9-2 lead before the Hurricanes stormed back to tie it up at 19-all, but it was all Huskies from there. Alex Karaban’s triple just before the horn gave UConn a 13-point halftime advantage, and Miami could never catch up the rest of the way.
The Aztecs, meanwhile, looked like they were heading back to SoCal Saturday, as East Region champion Florida Atlantic had them on the ropes in the second half of their semifinal showdown. The ninth-seeded Owls were on a mission to prove they were no Cinderella or fluke, and they held a commanding, 56-42 lead with 13:53 to play.
SDSU dug deep and began chipping away, however, and eventually cut it to one, 71-70, on a Jaedon LeDee basket with 38 ticks remaining. The Aztecs have hung their hat on their defense all season, and sure enough, they got the stop they needed without fouling, and had to quickly race it up the court and save their season.
With the final seconds ticking away, junior guard Lamont Butler (8.7 ppg) stepped to his left to create enough space and released a jumper that swished through the net as time expired, and the Aztecs began to celebrate their first trip to the national championship game.
“What an incredible shot,” said head coach Brian Dutcher. “It put us in the championship game, but at the end of the day people are going to talk about who won the national championship. People in San Diego will always remember Lamont’s shot, but if we win a title, then they’re really going to remember that shot. So it all depends on what happens tomorrow night, how it will be remembered through history.”
Now, they’re looking to become not only the first team in school history to hoist a trophy, but the first in Mountain West Conference history as well.
“Like most of the teams in the tournament, everybody puts in hard work, but sometimes you just hit your rhythm. You find a way to win games. That’s what we’ve done,” said Dutcher. “And we’re proud of our group, proud to represent San Diego State on the biggest stage Monday night in the national championship game.”
UConn has been here before. In fact, a win Monday night would tie the Huskies — who cut down the nets in 1999, 2004, 2011 and 2014 under Jim Calhoun — with Duke and Indiana for the fourth-most NCAA titles with five.
While this year’s group has never won an NCAA championship, they’ve certainly been playing like a team that’s capable of doing so. The Huskies have drilled a total of 50 3-pointers in the tournament, and have pulled down 54 more rebounds than their opponents in five games.
Junior forward Adama Sanogo (17.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg) was nearly perfect against the Hurricanes Saturday, connecting on 9 of his 11 field-goal attempts (including 2-for-3 from downtown) and finishing with game highs of 21 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of blocks.
Sophomore sharpshooter Jordan Hawkins (16.2 ppg), who Dutcher refers to as “an NBA guard,” has made 19-of-38 from 3-point range during the tournament, including three big ones in the win over Miami. UConn has demonstrated its ability to quickly outlet the ball after an opponent’s miss and make them pay for it from beyond the arc on the other end.
“Obviously we have to control them in transition,” Dutcher said of trying to slow down the Huskies. “They’re as good a 3-point shooting team in transition that we’ve played all year. And the 3-point shot, it’s such a weapon. We have to take away transition 3s. We have to do a good job in the low post on Sanogo. He’s strong and tough.”
UConn’s Dan Hurley said he is impressed with Dutcher and how well-coached the Aztecs are, and knows that they have all the skills, talent and experience necessary to put an end to the Huskies’ championship hopes.
“Their defensive abilities, their physicality, their rebounding, the depth, both frontcourt and perimeter,” Hurley said of his final opponent. “And obviously the most experienced team that you probably could possibly play against at this point. So it’s exciting to share the court with a team that we mirror each other I think in a lot of ways.”
UConn was ranked as high as No. 2 in the country before dropping six of its eight games during one stretch at the turn of the new year. Despite being the higher seed and the favorite on paper Monday, Hurley and his Huskies are prepared for a slug fest.
“The heavy favorites haven’t fared very well in this one, so we’re just going to try to ignore that tag,” said Hurley. “I just think it helps us a lot just what we went through in January. We know that if we get away from our identity for a tick, we become very vulnerable.
“We obviously, with the experience and the physicality and the age and just how well-coached the San Diego State team is and the teams they’ve beaten to get here, we expect a much different type of game, much more of a fight.”
While Butler’s late-game heroics ultimately punched San Diego State’s ticket to Monday night, it was fifth-year guard Matt Bradley who poured in a team-high 21 points — including four huge 3-pointers — to lead the comeback effort.
Bradley (12.7 ppg), the team’s leading scorer who had been struggling with his shot in the previous two games (3-for-17, 0-for-3 from deep), is confident that the Aztecs have one more important victory left in the tank against the Huskies.
“I think we match up with them really well,” Bradley said. “They’re really physical. They’re a big team. And we know we’ve just got to stick to our game plan. We’re our own biggest competitors. If we just play our own game, I think we should come out with the win.”
As of Sunday afternoon, UConn is listed as a 7-point favorite to hang another banner, according to Caesars Sportsbook, but the Aztecs won’t go out without a fight.
“I thought we’ve been the underdogs this whole tournament,” Butler said. “That’s the mentality that went into it, the mentality that went into it every game. We’re going to keep that mentality and keep on proving people wrong.”
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