The Connecticut Huskies have repeated as NCAA men's basketball national champions.
The Huskies defeated the Purdue Boilermakers, 75-60, during the March Madness Tournament Final at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Monday (April 8) night. Senior guard Tristen Newton led UConn with a team-best 20 points and seven assists, while also recording five rebounds, earning the award for Most Outstanding Player for the Final Four for the second consecutive year.
Four of the Huskies' starters scored in double figures, with guard Stephon Castle scoring 15 points, center Donovan Clingan recording 11 and guard Cam Spencer scoring 11 points, while also recording a team-best eight rebounds. Purdue senior Zach Edey, the two-time reigning National College Player of the Year, recorded a game-high 37 points and 10 rebounds.
UConn concluded the 2024 NCAA Tournament with a +140 point differential, the highest total in March Madness history, defeating No. 16 Stetson (91-52), No. 9 Northwestern (75-58), No. 5 San Diego State (82-52), No. 3 Illinois (86-72) and No. 4 Alabama (86-72) en route to Monday's win. The Huskies are the first No. 1 overall seed to win the national championship since Louisville in 2013.
Last year, head coach Dan Hurley became the third coach to lead the Huskies to a national championship, following Jim Calhoun (1999, 2004, 2011) and Kevin Ollie (2014). UConn is now tied with North Carolina with six national titles, trailing only UCLA (11) and Kentucky (8).