GLENDALE, Ariz. – The No. 1 overall seed UConn men’s basketball team faced a real challenge for the first time in this NCAA Tournament, but pulled away to beat No. 4 Alabama in the Final Four, 86-72, on Saturday.
The Huskies (36-3) will meet Zach Edey and No. 1 Purdue (34-4) in the title game Monday as they look to become the first back-to-back national champions since Florida in 2006-07. UConn is 11-1 in the Final Four all-time and 5-0 in national championship games, all of which have come since 1999.
Freshman Stephon Castle, playing in front of 74,720 people at State Farm Stadium, thrived on the raised stage. The projected lottery pick tied his career-high 21 points to lead the Huskies and pulled down five rebounds. Donovan Clingan, another projected top pick, finished with 18 points, five rebounds and four blocks.
All five of UConn’s starters finished in double figures as Alex Karaban and Cam Spencer each had 14 and eight rebounds, and Tristen Newton added 12.
“Our identity is to be pretty relentless. We might not break you for 18 minutes, 25 minutes, but at some point, if what we’re doing at both ends and on the backboard is at a high level, it just becomes hard for the other team to sustain it,” coach Dan Hurley said. “There’s a factor with teams now that they’ve seen us play, where we get on a run, I think it’s disheartening for the other team because they’ve seen it, they’ve seen us do it a lot.”
Dom Amore: Alabama made UConn men work hard, but the Huskies are on the brink of history
Saturday’s run that put the game away didn’t come until the score was tied with 12 minutes left in the second half. Castle hit a pair of free throws and then a layup, Spencer found Samson Johnson for a dunk and Karaban attacked the offensive glass for a second-chance bucket that put the Huskies up eight with 10:27 to go, forcing Alabama coach Nate Oats to call a timeout.
The Tide wasn’t able to cut its deficit to less than six for the remainder of the game as UConn continued to land blows that put it away.
The 14-point margin of victory extended UConn’s NCAA Tournament record to 11 consecutive wins by double figures.
The Huskies trailed for a total of four minutes and 18 seconds in the first half, which featured seven lead changes and five ties. It was their first time playing from behind since the opening five minutes against San Diego State in the Sweet 16, which ended up being a 30-point win.
Castle got started early, making Alabama pay for sagging off him at the 3-point line, and hit a pair as UConn started 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.
“I had it going. My teammates, they put me in great positions to be successful, I saw a couple shots fall in early. I mean, I just had it going,” Castle said. “It was kind of disrespect on their end just to guard that far back… I thought it started a great night for me.”
Castle led all scorers at halftime with 13 points, but UConn missed its next eight 3-point attempts before Newton and Spencer hit a pair in the last five minutes. A pair of layups from Newton and Spencer put the Huskies up seven with 1:15 to go, the largest lead of the game to that point, until Alabama’s star point guard Mark Sears answered with five points in the final minute.
Sears, coming in averaging 21.5 points per game, finished with a game-high 24 on 9-for-14 shooting.
Alabama shot 8-for-11 from 3-point range and 50% from the field in the first half, but UConn still lead by four, 44-40, at the break.
“We were running into screens and dying on screens and people were coming off screens and getting open shots,” said Clingan, who played with a bruised hand. “In the second half we were a little bit more aggressive on the hot hand, running people off the 3-point line. I was telling everyone to just try to force them into me and I’ll protect the rim.”
The plan worked. UConn held the Tide to just 3-for-12 from deep after the break.
The Huskies, 32-0 this season when leading at the half, allowed Alabama to tie the game at 56 with 12:41 left and, in just 91 seconds, ran to another 8-0 lead, which they never squandered.
Alabama went scoreless for a three-minute stretch despite a flurry of fouls on Castle, and Clingan gave the Huskies their first double-digit lead of the night with five minutes to go. Karaban made it 11 with a deep 3 and Clingan dunked twice to answer a triple from Sears, putting the Huskies up 12 with less than two minutes to go.
Newton and Spencer hammered the last nails with a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute.
“We were able to wear them down, playing a full 40 minutes. They’re a tough team, they stuck with us until the last media (timeout) and I think that’s where we separate ourselves,” said Hassan Diarra, sitting at his locker with a towel to collect the blood from his nose after taking an elbow late. “We’re able to play a full 40 minutes, guarding, playing the way we play on offense and ultimately just breaking teams down.”
Like last year, there wasn’t much celebrating in the Huskies locker room after the game – other than singing “Happy Birthday” to Spencer, who turned 24 on Saturday. The team, the birthday boy more than anyone, is focused on making history.
Purdue, argued as the best team in the country along with the Huskies and Houston for much of the season, is the only team left standing in the way. The Boilermakers beat No. 11 NC State, 63-50,in the first Final Four game on Saturday behind 20 points and 12 rebounds from the 7-foot-4 Edey.
“Everyone came to UConn to try to be a part of history. We’re one step closer to our goal. But none of us in this locker room are satisfied,” said Clingan, 7-foot-2. “We know we have a lot of work to do, a big matchup on Monday.”
A big matchup indeed.
