Are the UConn Huskies on their way to back-to-back NCAA championships? The No. 1-ranked Huskies feel invincible this year after advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16.
After defeating No. 16 Stetson in the first round and then No. 9 Northwestern in the second round, UConn returns to the Sweet 16. Their next scheduled bout in that round: a rematch of last year’s March Madness championship game against San Diego State.
In last year’s championship game, the Huskies cruised to a 76-59 win over the Aztecs, sealing their fifth NCAA championship. Ahead of the rematch, UConn is not lacking any confidence, even when they believe they had opportunities to be better against Northwestern. Head coach Dan Hurley spoke on what he believes makes his team nearly unstoppable.
“We’re bulletproof,” Hurley said, per The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach. “Elite offense, elite defense. Didn’t love the offensive rebounding today and didn’t love the second-half defensive rebounding but, again, 20 assists, seven turnovers, one player had 14-14-8, point guard had 20-10. It’s tough to lose when you have that level of quality.”
Even with Hurley’s constructive criticism that the team could have brought in more rebounds against Northwestern, the Huskies still notched 33 rebounds during the game. Donovan Clingan led the team’s efforts with a double-double that included 14 rebounds, 14 points, eight blocks and one assist.
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And as Hurley says, UConn is dynamic both offensively and defensively. Defensively, the Huskies stifled the Aztecs last time around. UConn limited each of San Diego State’s players to 14 points or less.
Offensively, they often have four or five players who can all score double digit points in any game. One of these players is Tristen Newton, who just scored 20 points and added 10 assists against the Wildcats. Newton also came up big in the championship game a year ago against SDSU, when he notched 19 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.
They’ll look to do that once again on Thursday, as they try and advance to the Elite Eight again. If UConn does beat San Diego State, they’ll then take on the winner of Illinois and Iowa State.
UConn will be favored to get the win, and are by many the favorite, or one of the favorites, to win the NCAA championship for the second straight year. The Huskies have built off their championship season with a 31-3 regular season record this year and winning the Big East conference title. They came into the NCAA Tournament as both a No. 1 seed and the No. 1 ranked team in the AP Top 25 poll.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.