Many things have changed at UConn since the Huskies won its first national championship in 1999. But what hasn’t change was its status as one of the premier programs in college basketball. That showed in the 2023 National Championship game in which UConn beat San Diego State to capture its fifth title in the past four years.
UConn entered the finals game firing on all cylinders and had a 16-point lead at one point in the first half. San Diego State managed to make a brief run to make it interesting but never seemed close to orchestrating a comeback. Their emotional win against the Florida Atlantic in the semis seemed to have taken its toll.
Junior center Adama Sanogo was the star of the show for the Huskies, scoring 17 points and getting 10 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive glass. Sanogo, who averaged 20.2 points and 9.8 rebounds in the first five games, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
What was especially impressive about UConn’s run was the dominance they exerted on their opponents. With a 76-59 win over the Aztecs on Monday night, the Huskies became just the fifth team in nearly four decades to win all of the six games with double digits.
“We knew we were the best team in the tournament going in, and we just had to play to our level,” said Huskies’ head coach Dan Hurley.
Hurley, who arrived at UConn five seasons ago now joined Jim Calhoun and Kevin Ollie as one of the three coaches to win the national title for the program. And considering the great job he has done so far, who is to say that he won’t add a few more to the trophy cabinet in the future?
