The Connecticut Huskies are the 2024 NCAA Division 1 men's basketball champions after defeating the Purdue Boilermakers 75-60 in the Championship Game on Monday night.
The Huskies went into halftime with a six-point lead, but a dominant defensive performance early in the second half, holding Purdue to just 10 points in over 10 minutes of play, allowed Connecticut to break away. The Huskies won every game in the tournament by more than 10 points.
This is UConn's sixth men's basketball title and second championship in a row. The Huskies are the first men's basketball team to repeat as champions since the Florida Gators in 2006 and 2007.
Tristen Newton led the Huskies with 20 points. Zach Edey, Purdue's star big man, led all scorers with 37 points.
Purdue has never won an NCAA men's basketball title. Last year, they became the second ever No. 1 seed to lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament. They came tantalizingly close to matching the bounceback of the 2019 Virginia Cavaliers, who won the national title after their historic loss to 16-seed UMBC in 2018.
