NCAA Tournament: UConn overwhelm San Diego State to take fifth national title

UConn topped off one of the most impressive March Madness runs in history Monday night, clamping down early and breaking it open late to bring home their fifth national title with a 76-59 victory over San Diego State.

Adama Sanogo had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Tristen Newton also had a double-double with 19 points and 10 boards for the Huskies (31-8), who became the fifth team since the bracket expanded in 1985 to win all six games by double-digits on the way to a championship.

They won the six games by an average of 20 points, only a fraction less than what North Carolina did in sweeping to the title in 2009.

UConn built a 16-point lead late in the first half, only to see the Aztecs (32-7) trim the lead to five with 5:19 left. But Jordan Hawkins (16 points) answered with a three to trigger a 9-0 run and the only drama left was whether UConn would go six for six with double-digit wins.

Keshad Johnson had 14 points for San Diego State, who came up one win shy in their first trip to the Final Four.

UConn set the stage for their win during an 11:07 stretch in the first half during which the Aztecs didn’t make a single basket. Unable to shoot over, or go around, this tall, long UConn team, they missed 14 straight shots from the floor.

They went from leading by four to trailing by 11, and when they weren’t getting shots blocked (Alex Karaban had three and Sanogo had one), they were coming up short – a telltale sign of a team that was out of hops after their draining 72-71 buzzer-beater win over Florida Atlantic two nights earlier.