Uconn Huskies player celebrating after winning the National Championship. (Photo Courtesy UConn Athletics)
The UConn Huskies have repeated as the NCAA Men’s Basketball Champions after their 75-60 win over the Purdue Boilermakers.
UConn is the first team to win back-to-back championships since Florida won in 2006 and 2007 under Billy Donovan. This championship marks UConn's sixth in program history, tying North Carolina for the third most national championships.
Tristen Newton led UConn with 20 points, seven assists, and five rebounds, while Stephon Castle had 15 points, three assists, and five rebounds. Donovan Clingan and Cam Spencer both added 11 points.
Purdue center and the back-to-back Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year, Zach Edey scored more than half of his team’s points. Edey scored 37 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
After an outstanding season, and championship game against Purdue, UConn’s Tristen Newton was named the 2024 Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. Newton told reporters, “Credit to my teammates and coaching staff for putting me in the right positions to make plays, score, get people involved, and get the win tonight."
UConn dominated on the basketball court the entire 2024 season. They are the sixth team in NCAA history to win all six tournament games by double digits and the only team to do it twice. They won all six 2024 March Madness games by 13 or more points.
Following the win over Purdue, Head Coach Dan Hurley told reporters, “I mean, you can’t even wrap your mind around it because you just know how hard this tournament is. What a special group of people, a special coaching staff, and incredible group of players.”
While UConn is celebrating its title win, Hurley and his team will have to begin to strategize if they want to repeat their success for a third year. After the game, Hurley told reporters, “On the flight home tomorrow, we'll start talking about what the roster is going to look like. Obviously, we graduate some players. We're going to lose a couple potentially to the NBA early entry. We're going to dive in and put together a roster that can play a comparable level of basketball to the one that you guys have witnessed the last two years. That's I know what our mindset will be."
For now, we celebrate UConn's remarkable season and for them becoming the 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champions. Congratulations to the UConn Huskies and Coach Hurley!