UConn beats Purdue and cruises to sixth NCAA championship - ESPN

GLENDALE, Ariz. — There comes a point in every dominant UConn win in the NCAA tournament when Dan Hurley finally relaxes. Two straight years, 12 straight games. It's become an inevitability.

In the first four games of this year's tournament, it came early in the second half. Against Alabama, it didn't come until Tristen Newton's 3 with 1:04 left to put the game out of reach. Hurley looked at the UConn crowd and put up three fingers.

And against Purdue in Monday night's national championship game, it came after Newton was fouled by Zach Edey on a jump shot with 3:50 remaining. The rebound came to Hurley, who bounced it three times with excitement — and maybe even a hint of a smile.

He could finally relax: UConn's spot in history was cemented.

The Huskies defeated Purdue 75-60, winning their second straight national championship and becoming the first team to go back-to-back since Florida in 2006 and 2007.

And after one of the most dominant NCAA tourney runs in history last year, when UConn beat its six opponents by 20.0 points per game, it was even more unbeatable this year. After Monday's win, the Huskies' average scoring margin in their six wins was 23.3 points.

Once again, all six wins came by double digits — making that 12 straight NCAA tournament wins by at least 10 points dating back to last season.

UConn's defensive game plan was clear from the outset: Defend Edey with Donovan Clingan, let him go one-on-one and make sure nobody else on Purdue gets going. The numbers backed up that strategy. In Purdue's wins this season, Edey averaged 24.9 points. In Purdue's losses, Edey averaged 25.0 points.

Simply put, Edey was going to get his production regardless.

But if the Boilermakers' complementary pieces failed to provide