HOUSTON — In an NCAA Tournament Men’s Final Four of mostly first timers, the UConn Huskies are the Blue Bloods of this group.
And the fourth-seeded Huskies left little doubt they are the team to beat after dominating fifth-seed Miami, 72-59, during their national seminal matchup late Saturday night at Houston’s NRG Stadium. The Huskies will now face overachieving San Diego State on Monday night in their fifth national championship game and vie for their fifth title win.
If the way UConn, which led the entire game, has dominated during this NCAA Tournament is any indication, Monday night’s title game may be just a formality.
“I think what we we’re doing – when we’re playing harder than the other team, which is our calling card, going like plus-nine on the glass, playing elite defense and having a lot of answers on offense, there is nowhere where we’re weak as a team and we’re deep,” said UConn coach Dan Hurley. “So we’re able to kind of body blow our opponent and continue to just put together quality possessions at ends and the backboard, and it has a cumulative effect.”
What that meant for the Hurricanes, who had knocked off No. 1 University of Houston and No. 2 University of Texas in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eights, respectively, was they never really stood a chance. The Huskies were too long, too deep and way too cohesive of a team.
As a result, they are one game away from winning it all.
“There are a lot of teams that want to play Monday,” said UConn forward Adama Sanogo, who led all scorers with 21 points and added 10 rebounds. “It means a lot to us. It means everything we work for.
“The work has paid off, we are still going and we are going to keep working and be able to go Monday night.”
Defense has been the Huskies calling card all season and that was certainly apparent Saturday night. They limited Miami to 32 percent shooting from the field and 35 percent from 3-point range on the night. UConn has held all of the opponents below 40 percent shooting this tournament.
That was made even more impressive Saturday because their elite defender, Andre Jackson was limited due to early foul trouble. But the rest of his teammates stepped up their defense.
Miami’s best scorer Isaiah Wong finished with 15 points but he was just 4-of-10 from the floor.
“Obviously Andre is one of the best defenders not only on our team but in the nation,” said Tristen Newton. “(Isaiah) Wong is a really good player. He got in the gaps. That was the game plan the whole time, get in the gap, force them to shoot tough shots.”
Terrance Harris covers college basketball for Sportsnaut. You can follow him on Twitter at @TerranceHarris.