March Madness: UConn breeze past Miami to reach the National Championship with double-digit win

UConn starting forward Adama Sanogo is fasting as part of his Ramadan observance. His hunger has affected most of the games he has played during March Madness.

“It’s something that if you feel empty, you should do it,” Sanogo said Friday. ‘This is something I’ve been doing since I was little. It happens to be during the Tournament, so I guess I have to.’

Yes, Adama Sanogo is hungry and on Saturday night in Houston, the Mali-born 6-foot-9 big man feasted for the Huskies.

On Saturday night, he led the Huskies with 21 points and 10 rebounds as the Connecticut Huskies beat the Miami Hurricanes 72-59 to advance to the school’s fifth national championship game. There, they will play San Diego State, which beat Florida Atlantic at a buzzer earlier in the day.

This entire tournament, playing UConn has simultaneously been a blink and you will miss it, as well as blunt force trauma. They’ve won games by 24, 15, 23 and 28, often in runs so fast that teams don’t realize how big the lead is until they’re locked into it.

Miami was just their latest victim of this style of play: they never led the game and were down 20 at one point, ending in a humiliating 13-point loss.

Sanogo’s first-half performance helped the Huskies establish a first-half lead

Jordan Hawkins quickly proved that the issues related to his non-COVID illness were not a cause for concern. Concerns of whether or not he will start have gripped UConn fans across the country.

But it was on UConn’s first shot of the game that the sophomore guard from Gaithersburg, Maryland caught a pass and knocked down a 3-pointer to start the game off right for the Huskies.

Huskies big man Adama Sanogo showed he was a threat from all sides of the court when he hit a 3-pointer for the game’s second basket. Moments later, he did it again.

It took Miami more than 3 1/2 minutes to catch a basket as guard Jordan Miller drove the lane for a layup.

But for the under-16 media timeout, UConn’s best two-way player, Andre Jackson Jr., committed his second foul after guarding Miami’s leading scoring threat, Isaiah Wong. He was benched after just four minutes of playing time and Virginia Tech transfer guard Nahiem Alleyne stepped in to cover the Hurricanes pitcher.

UConn’s starting guard Tristen Newton buried a shot from beyond the arc to go up 14-4 just below the 14-minute mark. By the 13:10 point, Miami had only gone 1-12 from the field compared to UConn’s 5-10 shooting mark.

What the Huskies do better than most teams in this tournament is their ability to prevent teams from getting a second chance at points. Early in the game they were amazing on the glass keeping ‘Canes’ shots from reaching the net.

Under the 13-minute mark, Wong drilled a three-pointer to keep the deficit in check. Freshman Donovan Clingan, who was substituted for Sanogo while fasting during Ramadan, responded with a foul on a basket, but missed Y-Uno’s chance.

Huskies guard Tristen Newton (2) shoots the ball during the first meeting of the Final Four

But the Huskies got careless. A poor Hawkins pass led to a turnover and layup by Harlond Beverly to make it 16-9 at timeout less than 12 minutes into the first half. A Hasan Diarra turnover around the ten-minute mark made the game 16-13. Miami tied the game at 19-19 on Nijel Pack’s step-back 3-pointer at the 8:23 mark.

UConn’s offense didn’t look its usual. At the media timeout at 7:40, the Huskies had turned the ball over six times and had committed six team fouls to Miami’s three team fouls.

But coming out of that timeout, something Connecticut coach Dan Hurley said should have put the team’s leadership on the same page.

“We needed to put more pressure on the paint,” Hurley said at the postgame news conference in a question asked by DailyMail.com. “I thought we had some Fool’s Gold to start the game… no matter what [assistant coaches] Kimani Young and Luke Murray tell you it wasn’t their idea to let Adama hit two 3-pointers to start the game.

‘We needed to do more painting. And we needed to regain our defensive edge. And they were all over the offensive glass, which usually doesn’t happen to us.

The defense looked stronger, Newton and Sanogo made layups, the passes were sharper. UConn had extended their lead to 25-19 and after missing a shot, returned Miami’s second-chance attempt with a block by Sanogo around the 5:30 mark.

The energy at NRG Stadium was palpably turning toward UConn. He was scored with a Clingan block that was hit so hard that he traveled away from the raised court and into the student section. Miami head coach Jim Larranaga called a timeout and the Connecticut faithful began chanting their school’s name around the building.

Connecticut Huskies head coach Dan Hurley reacts passionately on the sideline

In the media timeout of less than four minutes, Miami had gone 4:24 without scoring. Interestingly, UConn was simultaneously on an 8-0 run but hadn’t hit a shot in a span of two and a half minutes. The Huskies’ lead was 27-19.

Alleyne turned that around with a bucket at the 2:30 mark after the guard grabbed his own rebound. Miami had ended its drought earlier. Calcaterra’s 3-pointer was his second hit of the night and Connecticut led 32-21 going into the minute.

Pack hit a 3-pointer just as the clock ticked below that mark and Alleyne knocked down a jumper to push things to a 34-24 lead. A buzzer-beater 3-pointer by Alex Karaban sent the teams to the locker room up 37-24.

But even with this edge intact, recent history still lingered on attendees’ minds. After all, last week this same Miami team rallied from a huge deficit to defeat Texas and clinch their spot here in Houston.

Sanogo scored the first two baskets of the second half to put UConn up 41-24. Even as Norchad Omier put a layup on the board for the ‘Canes, Karaban responded with a 3-pointer.

The two trainers were in separate headspaces. Hurley turned his back on the play on the court to cheer on the UConn fans who were right behind him. Moments later, Larrañaga was out of breath and shouting instructions as Isaiah Wong tried to prepare something.

Hurricanes forward Norchad Omier (15) reaches for the ball against forward Alex Karaban (11)

At the media timeout of less than 16 minutes, UConn was up 46-28. Even when Miami went on a 7-0 run in a matter of a minute, and Hurley had called a timeout at the 14:18 mark, UConn was still up 49-37.

A rough stretch of play in the Huskies’ offense was rewarded with a layup by Jackson to make it 51-37, but the ‘Canes responded with a 3-pointer by Beverly. On the next possession, Hawkins was fouled from beyond the arc. He made two of three free throws to make it 53-40 at 12:30.

Isaiah Wong kept Miami in the game. Five points from him cut UConn’s lead to just eight with 11:48 to go. Karaban’s miss at the baseline was cleaned up by Clingan to put the lead back to ten and a Hawkins three-pointer just half a minute later made it a game-high 13 points as the game entered the less than ten-minute mark of the game. second half.

When Miami took a timeout at 8:26, the Huskies were up 60-45. Omier scored just after that timeout, but a break-through pass from UConn led to a massive dunk by Jackson.

At 6:00, Bensley Joseph’s 3-pointer for Miami cut the deficit to 10 points. A Wong steal couldn’t lead to anything productive as the Calcaterra steal prevented the shot from him. Miami began their full-court rush against the Huskies, but began fouling. By 5:00, they had outfouled UConn 6-1.

When the game came to 4:30, Miami was still ten behind by a score of 64-54. Hawkins attempted a deep pass after a turnover, but missed. But the guard grabbed his own rebound and passed it to Karaban, whose drive into the lane led to a shot and one that the freshman forward missed. UConn was leading 66-54 when the media timeout of less than four minutes began.

Newton celebrates after scoring as UConn led the Hurricanes away early on

Miami guard Harlond Beverly scores for the Hurricanes in the first half

Miami continued to look for a weakness in the Huskies’ armor, but they just didn’t have enough time. Outside of that timeout, an alley-oop from Newton led to Jackson emphatically sending him home.

The Huskies fans in the stadium began to cheer as they have so many times when they have been closing out games.

At the 1:50 mark, UConn’s lead was 70-54 buoyed by a 6-0 run over the course of two minutes. Three free throws by Wong made it 70-57. Time kept running. UConn brought their bench players.

Miami just couldn’t respond, finishing the night with more offensive rebounds but shooting 20-62 on the day. Meanwhile, UConn continued to break their spirits. Death by blunt force trauma once again.