DOMINATE HUSKIES DOOM DESERT DREAMS

DRUM BEAT

PURDUE BASKETBALL

Shawn Martin Excelhsports.com

Glendale, Arizona – April 8, 2024

Sometimes you run into an opponent that is just better than you.

The Connecticut Huskies met the Purdue Boilermakers in the National Championship game Monday night here in suburban Phoenix, and systematically dismantled Purdue 75-60 to win their second consecutive – and sixth overall – National Championship.

Coach Danny Hurley’s team proved to be bigger, faster, stronger, and more balanced across the board.

The Boilermakers didn’t really play badly, UConn is just that good and that dominant this season.

The first half saw a competitive game – as most of UConn’s tournament games have been the last two seasons. There were five lead changes and eight ties during the opening 20 minutes of the game.

Two-time Consensus National Player of the Year Zach Edey had the hot hand early, knocking down five of his first six shots – mostly his patented hook – and finished with 16 first half points to go along with five boards and two blocks.

Braden Smith and Lance Jones each pierced the Husky defense with driving buckets much to the delight of a very large percentage of the nearly 75,000 fans in attendance that were wearing Old Gold and Black.

Purdue just could not stop the Huskies potent offensive sets that saw them work the ball and get driving layups or open threes. Early on in the game, UConn went deep into the shot clock, and still knocked down jumpers almost as the buzzer was about to sound.

It was fool’s gold for the Boilers. They couldn’t get stops, and then started to falter in the other areas of the game in which they normally dominate.

UConn was able to play Edey and his 7-4 300-pound frame straight up with 7-2 265-pound Donavan Clingan. The Huskies perimeter defense features long, athletic, and smart players that didn’t give many looks from beyond the three-point arc.

Purdue has been among the best three-point shooting teams in the country this season. Tonight, Purdue could only muster seven three-point attempts, hitting one. Purdue had 8 assists and nine turnovers.

UConn dominated the boards – almost always the Bastian of the Boilers – including fourteen offensive rebounds, which kept alive possessions and didn’t allow Purdue to get the defensive stops to cut into the building Connecticut lead in the second half.

When it was all said and done, Connecticut turned a 36-30 halftime lead into a keep away contest the last ten minutes with precision cutting, passing, and moving. It was a clinic.

Edey was the one Boilermaker that the Huskies had no real answer for. Their strategy in playing Purdue was similar to that of North Carolina State’s on Saturday. They didn’t totally focus on stopping or even limiting Edey. They played him straight up and behind, rarely brought too many hard double downs, and don’t foul him. They put really good pressure on Purdue’s smallish guards with long athletes – the guards for Purdue did well handling the ball and not turning it over, but they couldn’t break free for open looks from out.

Edey finished his incredible run as a Boilermaker with 37 points and 10 rebounds against very likely the best Big he has faced all season – maybe the last two, in Clingan. Edey’s performance capped an NCAA Tournament for the ages. Prior to this year, no player had ever achieved more than four games in a single tournament with 20 points, ten rebounds, and 60% field goal percentage. Edey recorded those numbers in all six of Purdue’s tournament games in this historic run.

He will go down as one of the all-time greats in College Basketball lore.

Smith came back from a tough game in the National Semi-Final with a solid game of 12 points, 8 assists, and only ine turnover. Nobody else had more than five points for Purdue which finishes 34-5.

Great year by coach Matt Painter and his staff. The immediate past has been tremendous. The future also seems bright.

Connecticut has basically laid claim as THE Blue Blood in Men’s College Basketball, winning their sixth title in the last 25 years (24 tournaments).

They placed four players in double figures, and one more had nine. Tristen Newton led them with 20 points and seven assists. He was named the Most Outstanding Player. Stephon Castle followed with 15, Cam Spencer and Clingan each had 11.

The 37-3 Huskies were the best team in the country. Purdue was second best. Pretty special season.

• No. 1-ranked UConn stopped Purdue’s quest for its first National Championship with a 75-60 setback to the Huskies, in front of 74,423 fans – the third-largest championship game crowd ever.
• The Boilermakers finish the season with a 34-5 record, setting the school record for wins in a season (34).
• The senior class of Zach Edey, Mason Gillis, Ethan Morton, Lance Jones, Chase Martin and Carson Barrett finish their careers with a 110-29 overall record (.791), the most wins by a senior class in school history.
• Purdue lost for the first time this season to a nationally-ranked team, ending the year with a 10-1 record against nationally-ranked squads.
• Zach Edey’s 37 points are tied for the fourth most in a National Championship game (44 – UCLA’s Bill Walton, 1973; 42 – UCLA’s Gail Goodrich, 1965; 41 — Kentucky’s Jack Givens, 1978). It was the most points scored by a player in the National Championship game in 46 years.
• Edey is one of two players to have at least 37 points and 10 rebounds in National Championship game history (Bill Walton, Lew Alcindor).
• Edey’s 177 points in the NCAA Tournament are tied for the second most in an NCAA Tournament, behind Glen Rice’s (Michigan) 184 points in 1989. Edey’s seven straight double-doubles in NCAA Tournament play are the longest in NCAA Tournament history.
• Zach Edey ended the season with 983 points and 474 rebounds. Edey and Houston’s Elvin Hayes (1968) are the only players in NCAA history to finish a year with those numbers.
• Edey’s 983 points end as the second most in both Purdue history and Big Ten history in a single season, behind Glenn Robinson (1994).
• Edey’s 474 rebounds are the second most in Big Ten history behind Ohio State’s Jerry Lucas (499; 1962).
• Zach Edey’s 436 free throw attempts are tied for the second most in a season in NCAA history, tied with LSU’s Pete Maravich in 1970, and only behind Furman’s Frank Selvy (400; 1954).
• Edey’s 30 double-doubles are tied for the fourth most in a season in NCAA history (31 – Navy’s David Robinson, 1986; 31 – North Carolina’s Armando Bacot, 2022; 31 – Akron’s Enrique Freeman, 2024).
• Edey finished his career with 90 straight double-figure scoring games and 116 double-figure games in his career, tying E’Twaun Moore for the school record for career 10-point games.
• Edey finished the season with 84 blocked shots, tied for the fifth most in a season in school history.
• Edey and Shaquille O’Neal are the only players in NCAA history to average at least 25.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and shoot 60.0 percent from the field in a single season.
• Edey finished his career with 2,516 points and 1,321 rebounds. Edey is one of six players in NCAA history to have those numbers in a career (Lionel Simmons, Oscar Robertson, Elvin Hayes, Michael Brooks, Dickie Hemric).
• Braden Smith recorded 12 points, 8 assists and 3 rebounds, setting the Big Ten record for most assists in a season (292), passing Michigan State’s Cassius Winston (291; 2019).