UConn to face Purdue for rare NCAA tournament repeat after rolling Tide

The end result showed UConn winning its 11th straight NCAA Tournament game by at least 13 points.

The reality: The Huskies were tested like no other in their quest for a possible second straight national title.

UConn kept its composure and its bid to repeat as national champions intact, scoring 21 points from freshman Stephon Castle as he held his ground defensively in the second half of an 86-72 victory over Alabama in the Final Four on Saturday night.

“Our identity has to be pretty ruthless,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “We might not break you for 18 minutes, 25 minutes, but at some point when what we’re doing on both ends and on the board is at a high level, it just becomes difficult for the other team to keep it up.”

The top-seeded Huskies (36-3) put on a March Madness show before arriving in the desert, a stretch that included a 30-0 run in a decimation of Illinois in the Elite Eight.

This was more of a slow burn.

Alabama (25-12) made the most of their first Final Four, hitting a series of 3-pointers to take on a team that trailed a total of 28 seconds through their first four NCAA Tournament games.

Smart point guard Mark Sears did his best to keep Alabama in it, scoring 24 points. Grant Nelson had another big game in March Madness, finishing with 19 points, 15 rebounds and one highlight dunk about UConn big man Donovan Clingan.

UConn, as they usually do under Hurley, wore the Tide into submission.

Clingan began to assert himself in the post offensively, finishing with 18 points and four blocked shots. Castle and Alex Karaban (14 points) hit big shots as the Huskies extended the lead.

And one of the nation’s best defenses stepped up at just the right time, holding the Tide without a field goal for a game-breaking five-minute period, putting UConn on the verge of becoming the first repeat champion since Florida in 2006- 2007.

“They’re almost bulletproof,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said.

Next up for the Huskies is what should be a heavyweight battle in Monday’s national championship game against Purdue. It won’t be for the meek, with the 7-foot-4, 280-pound Clingan facing off against the rare person on earth who is bigger than him in 7-foot-4, 300-pound Zach Edey.

“A battle between the giants. I think it’s just great for college basketball. We and Purdue have clearly been the two best teams in the country the last two years,” Hurley said. “I think it’s just great for college basketball to get the two big dogs playing on Monday.”

The Huskies spent the first two weeks of the tournament terrorizing opponents with an average margin of victory of 27.8 points.

Alabama put a stick in the spokes of the juggernaut by pulling Clingan away from the basket and burying three-pointers.

Clingan had two early blocks and looked on his way to duplicating his Elite Eight performance as Illinois went 0 for 19 on shots he contested.

Once the Crimson Tide started forcing Clingan into high pick-and-rolls, the lanes to the basket began to open up – as did the three-point line.

Alabama thrived all season three, beating Clemson in the Elite Eight by making 16 shots from deep. The Tide kept it rolling against UConn, making 8 of 11 in the first half as Sears repeatedly got to the rim, seemingly putting the Huskies exactly where they wanted them.

No.

The Huskies kept their composure amid the Alabama three-point barrage, calmly running their offense and leading 44-40 at halftime.

“We just had to stick together and tighten up on the defensive end,” Karaban said.

UConn continued to roll in the second half and Nelson kept the Tide within reach. His thunderous dive over Clingan caused Oats to scream and crouch as if he was doing the Haka.

Oats’ friend Hurley had the last laugh – or the last shout.

Hurley built UConn into perhaps the best two-way team of a generation, and the Huskies showed both sides in their final prime.

UConn stifled Alabama’s open looks from the three-point arc and started getting the ball to Clingan, who overpowered the Tide as he got close to the rim.

“They really are a great team,” Sears said. “We turned the ball over and they made us pay for it.”

The Huskies gradually expanded the lead, pushing the Tide back every time they made a run and putting themselves in position to make history.

No. 11 NC State 50-63 No. 1Purdue

There was more than one team that came to the Final Four with a dream — more than one team that hoped to add its own unforgettable chapter to college basketball’s colorful book of history.

Edey and Purdue have been thinking big all year, and after capping off North Carolina State’s magical season with a 63-50 victory on Saturday, it’s the Boilermakers who are one win away from the program’s first NCAA title.

“It’s the one we’ve been talking about all year,” said Edey, who played all 40 minutes and finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds.

However, over the past three weeks, much of the land has been seized by NC State. The Wolfpack, 11th-seeded dreamers, were in the midst of a classic reboot of 1983, when they won nine straight postseason games to capture an unlikely title, sending their frantic coach, Jim Valvano, running onto the field in search for someone to hug.

In 2024, the Wolfpack went 9 for 9 under similar must-win conditions to get this far.

Only this time they fell two wins short of glory.

“I didn’t get the big one,” said N.C. State guard DJ Horne, who finished with 20 points. “But it’s definitely a big achievement in my career.”

NC State aside, some might call this run by top-seeded Purdue this year as unthinkable as anything happening in college.

This is a show well versed in the art of disappointment and missed expectations. Edey returned for his senior season and led the Boilermakers to the Final Four for the first time since 1980 – a season after they were the second No. 1 seed to fall in the first round.

The Boilermakers (34-4), once again the top seed, will play Connecticut, an 86-72 winner over Alabama in the second semifinal, for the title on Monday night.

“The reason I came back is to play games like this,” Edey said. “It’s the reason I’ve been playing college basketball for four years, to finally make this game big.”