The Connecticut Huskies beat the Alabama Crimson Tide 86 to 72 to advance to the NCAA Championship game to take on Purdue Monday night. The Huskies were led by Stephon Castle 21 points and Donovan Clingan 18 points, five rebounds, and four blocked shots.
Alabama rally from eight down in the second half when 6-foot-11 Grant Nelson dunked all over the Huskies’ 7-2 big Donovan Clingan to make it 77-72. Then Nelson followed up with a driving layup ton tie it 56-56 with 12:56 remaining in the game.
It looked like this game will go down the wire. This was the first time UConn was challenged in the tournament in which they were winning by an average of 27.8 points. Then the Huskies went on an 8-0 run with 1:37 and never look back.
UConn outlasted Alabama after outscoring the Crimson Tide by 10 points in the second half. The Huskies win is even more impressive when you consider that Alabama shot almost 50% on 23 3-point attempts and UConn shot 40% from distance.
Mark Sears lead the way with 24 points while Grant Nelson had 19 points for Alabama. UConn coach Danny Hurley said. “Alabama just stayed on the attack, they just kept assaulting us,” “With their offense and aggression and their shot making. They wouldn’t go away when other teams would normally go away.
Connecticut is trying to be the first team to win back to back National Championships for the first time since Florida did it in 2006 and 2007. It will be an epic matchup of the Centers between Purdue 7-foot-4 Zach Edey and UConn Donovan Clingan at 7-foot-2. It has been a long time the championship game had a great matchup between the two best teams and centers.
Photo Credit – Connecticut Athletics
