UConn reaches title video game with beatdown of Miami

HOUSTON (AP)-- UConn administered another drama-free basketball beatdown Saturday, getting 21 points and 10 rebounds from Adama Sanogo to dispatch Miami 72-59 and move one win from the school's fifth national title.

Jordan Hawkins overcame his stomach bug and scored 13 for the Huskies, who came into this most unexpected Final Four as the only group with any experience on college basketball's last weekend and with the best seeding of the four teams in Houston-- at No. 4.

Against fifth-seeded Miami, they were the very best team on the court from starting to end. Beginning with 3 straight 3s-- one jumper from Hawkins and 2 set shots from Sanogo-- UConn took a fast 9-0 lead and never ever trailed.

On Monday in the title video game, the Huskies will face San Diego State, which ended up being the first string to strike a buzzer-beater while tracking in a Final Four video game for a 72-71 triumph over Florida Atlantic.

" They're one of the very best teams in the country," UConn coach Dan Hurley said. "And I think it's fitting that both people sort of earned our way into this title video game."

But while the early game was an all-timer, the nightcap was merely more of the same from the Huskies (30-8).

The semifinal success was UConn's closest win in 5 competition video games, and it became only the 6th group because the competition broadened to 64 teams in 1985 to reach the title video game after winning its first 5 in the tournament by double digits. It's an impressive list with a daunting epilogue: Four of the previous 5 teams won the championship.

Some thought Miami (29-8), with 4 players who have actually scored 20 points at least 3 times this season, may be the team to slow this Huskies steamroller. Not to be.

Isaiah Wong led the 'Canes with 15 points on 4-for-10 shooting. Pestered continuously by Sanogo, 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan and the rest of Connecticut's long-armed, rangy border gamers, Miami, which can be found in with the nation's fifth-best offense, shot 25% in the first half and 33.3% for the video game.

UConn did enjoy its own sort of buzzer-beater. It was a 3 from Alex Karaban that sent out the Huskies running into the locker room with a 13-point halftime lead.

They built it to 20 before the very first television timeout of the 2nd half. Already, Jim Nantz, calling his last Final Four, could start conserving his voice for Monday.

Miami did get it under double digits a few times, but this never got intriguing.

Not assisting: Hurricanes guard Nijel Pack missed about five minutes after managers had problem locating a substitute for a malfunctioning shoe. Pack completed with 8 in this one, and Jordan Miller, who hit all 20 shots he drew from the flooring and the line in Miami's Elite Eight win, went 4 for 10 for 11 points. Only one Miami player made more than half his shots.
" I'm a protective person firstly," Hurley stated. "I simply like the way we safeguarded them. They're one of the best offenses in the nation, and we truly disrupted them."

UConn had five blocks, including two from Sanogo, and 19 assists, led by 8 from Tristen Newton-- both signs of the sort of well-rounded effort the Huskies have been putting in given that the start of February, after a six-loss-in-eight-games stretch halted their momentum.

That cold stretch is a huge reason they were seeded only fourth for March. Now, it's April and the number UConn is thinking of is "5"-- as in a 5th title that will come if it can keep this up for one more game.