Despite Zach Edey's 37 points, UConn beats Purdue 75-60 to win NCAA title at State Farm Stadium

GLENDALE –Purdue's two-time college basketball player of the year kept doing his thing Monday and UConn just shrugged it off.

The Huskies instead shut down pretty much everyone not named Zach Edey to claim their second straight national championship with a 75-60 win over Purdue in the NCAA title game Monday at State Farm Stadium.

The 7-foot-4 Edey had 37 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 15 of 25 from the field to lead Purdue. But UConn guard Tristen Newton led an efficient all-around attack for the Huskies, who also silenced the second-best 3-point shooting percentage team in the country on the other end of the court.

Entering the game shooting 40.6% from 3, Purdue took only seven 3s and made just one of them, a shot from point guard Braden Smith late in the first half. The Boilermakers shot 44.4% overall but allowed UConn to collect nine offensive rebounds in the second and keep control of an initially tight game the Huskies turned into a second-half romp.

Sort of like the way they did it to everyone else. UConn (37-3) was the best overall team in the NCAA Tournament, and it wasn't even close: The Huskies won their six NCAA Tournament games by an average of 23.3 points and never by fewer than 14 points

So, after praising Purdue and Painter in his postgame podium interview, UConn coach Dan Hurley paused to praise his own guys.

"What can you say?" Hurley said. "We won. By a lot. Again."

The Huskies did it this time by fencing off the same Boilermakers who beat Arizona on Dec. 16 in Indianapolis, when the Wildcats held Edey slightly below his season averages but were burned by the combined 9-for-16 3-point shooting of Smith and wing Fletcher Loyer.

On Monday, Loyer took only one 3-pointer and missed it, while Smith was 1 for 2.

Smith finished with 12 points, but Purdue guard Lance Jones added only five while Loyer and backup guard Mason Gillis were scoreless.

"The whole game plan was no Smith, no Loyer, no Gills, no Jones," Hurley said. "Keep that collective group under 18, 20 points and they had no chance to win. No matter how well Zach played."

Edey wound up shooting 15 of 25 from the field, while converting 7 of 10 free throws, but as Hurley expected, it wasn't nearly enough. The Boilermakers not only didn't shoot many 3s but they also didn't convert often around the basket, at least anybody other than Edey.

From two-point range, Loyer was 0 for 4, Smith was 3 for 10 and Gillis missed his only shot. As a team, Purdue made just 20% of its layups.

"They did a really good job of guarding the 3," Smith said. "We got to the paint plenty of times but just couldn't convert a lot of them."

Purdue didn't appear to have much choice but to head inside. Not only was UConn deploying a lot of its defensive energy away from Edey but Painter said he was also wary of how "bad 3s are run-outs for them," with missed shots potentially turning into easy UConn fast-break buckets that could change the game's pace and momentum.

"They were just gonna let us play one-on-one in the paint," Painter said. "The difference is they're just the better overall defensive team."

Newton said the Huskies knew Edey "was gonna get his shots," so he and UConn guard Stephon Castle spoke about how they worked that into the game plan.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

"We and didn't let the other guys into the game," Castle said.

Leading UConn with 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds, Newton was named the Final Four MVP. Three UConn teammates joined him on the all-Final Four team: Castle, who had 15 points Monday; Cam Spencer, who had 11, and UConn center Donovan Clingan. Edey was the only non-UConn player on the five-player team.

Leading 36-30 after a tightly contested first half, UConn began to pull away immediately after halftime.

Newton hit a 3-pointer 39 seconds into the half and set the tone by later lobbing up passes to Samson Johnson for alley oop dunk on back-to-back UConn possessions, putting the Huskies up 47-34 with 15:23.

UConn later went on an 8-2 run to push its lead to 59-42 when Castle hit a 3 with 8:39 to go, and the game was never in contention after that. Purdue wound up shooting just 42.3% from the field in the second half.

“I thought our guys really gave good effort and energy defensively," Matt Painter said, then added. "I thought the real difference was their ability to offensive rebound in the second half. We were just wasting so much energy to fight once they got in double digits."

In the first half, Newton had 11 points and two assists to lead UConn to a 36-30 halftime lead.

Both teams played an efficient first half but UConn withstood 16 points from Edey in part by keeping the Boilermakers off the 3-point line.

The Boilermakers only attempted one 3-pointer through the first 17 minutes and didn’t make any until Smith connected from the right wing to cut UConn’s lead to 32-30 with 2:09 left. That turned out to be the only 3-pointer Purdue hit all night.

The game was tight initially, staying within one possession through the first 15 minutes, before UConn took a 30-25 lead with 4:43 left on a layup from Newton as he cut down the right baseline. The Huskies then maintained a two-possession lead in the final minutes while Purdue committed two late turnovers.

Things continued to spiral downward further for the Boilermakers in the second half, costing them a chance at their first national title in school history.

UConn, by comparison, has six titles, all in the past quarter-century.

"It hurts because these opportunities are slim," Painter said. "We put ourselves in a great position. We just came up a little bit short to a great team."

Photos: (1) UConn champs again with 75-60 win over (1) Purdue, NCAA men's basketball national championship