The most bewildering of college basketball seasons has now come down to Monday night and one of the most unexpected national championship game matchups in recent memory.
On one side of the court, you have the newcomers to the grand stage, a gritty San Diego State squad hoping to become the first 5-seed to capture the title and cap off a historic run of success for the Mountain West’s best program for much of the past decade. The Aztecs arrive after a string of upsets gave way to the most astounding of buzzer-beaters in the Final Four, a short jumper in the corner from Lamont Butler to punch their ticket to the final game of the year and elevate the program’s reach far beyond Southern California.
Standing in the way of Brian Dutcher’s crew cutting down the nets is a blue blood program gunning for its fifth championship in the past 25 years in Connecticut. The Huskies are in the midst of one of the most dominant tournament runs ever – just the sixth team since 1985 to win all five games by double-figures – and have not lost to anybody outside the Big East all season. Head coach Dan Hurley, who once warned that you better get his program before they hit their current stride, has assembled one of the deepest teams around and get the benefit of leaning on star guards like Jordan Hawkins and Andre Jackson, as well as the incomparable big man rotation of Adama Sanogo and freshman Donovan Clingan.
Catch up with the top highlights and in-game analysis from Bryan Fischer once the game gets underway.
No. 5 San Diego State vs. No. 4 UConn:
08:50 – Is it danger time for the Aztecs? San Diego State has made just one of its last 12 shots and have gone nearly 7:42 without scoring from the floor. It’s almost enough to give you some Butler 2010 vibes with how hard they’re trying to come up with answers offensively. UConn, however, has its largest lead of the night and have navigated Donovan Clingan’s second foul by simply playing their best player this tourney — Adama Sanogo — some more.
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8:52 – Jordan Hawkins got a bucket off the dribble, adding to UConn’s 14-2 run and forcing San Diego State to take a timeout. The Huskies later made it a 16-2 run before the third TV timeout.
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11:00 – SDSU wanted to test that interior defense from UConn with its low post game and that … has not worked out well. The Aztecs have gone 5:32 without scoring and haven’t been close on any of their last eight missed attempts. That has allowed the Huskies to go on an 8-0 run to re-take the lead as the stellar defense we saw earlier in the tournament has begun to show up for both sides.
Also of note: Neither team has attempted a free throw up to this point. I’m not sure why coaches don’t make it a point of emphasis guards going downhill and driving to the basket to see if they get a foul call amid all these long scoring droughts.
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11:28 – UConn flipped the script before the second TV timeout, going on an 8-0 run to take the lead. Joey Calcaterra hooked up with Donovan Clingan on the alley-oop to give the Huskies a 14-10 lead.
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15:47 – Whew, what a frantic first few minutes that didn’t provide a hint of evidence that either side had any nerves for the biggest game of their careers. There was so much talk about UConn’s dominance coming into tonight — they trailed for just 47 seconds combined in their past three games — but San Diego State has put the pressure on by taking the early lead with plenty of balanced looks from Lamont Butler’s 3-pointer to Keshad Johnson’s jumper. While it’s been a nice start on the offensive of the ball for San Diego State, Brian Dutcher would probably like a bit tighter defense as the two teams have combined for eight field goals by eight different players going into the under-16 timeout. The pace favors the Huskies, but the MWC champs have gotten off to a nice start.
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16:32 – San Diego State led 10-6 at the first TV timeout. It got buckets from four different players, the last one coming from Matt Bradley.
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19:15 – The Aztecs answered right back as Lamont Butler, the hero of the team’s Final Four win over Florida Atlantic, drilled a 3-pointer to give San Diego State an early 3-2 lead.
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19:36 – UConn’s Jordan Hawkins scored the first points of the game, hitting a pull-up jumper on the opening possession.
>>> PREGAME SCENE
The Hurley name
FOX Sports’ Andy Katz spoke to UConn head coach Dan Hurley about what winning a national championship would mean to him and his family.
Keys to the game
FOX Sports college basketball reporter John Fanta offers up his three keys to the game ahead of tip-off.
All about the culture
FOX Sports’ Andy Katz sits down with San Diego State coach head Brian Dutcher to speak about the culture in the program and how he put this team together.
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