The University of Connecticut Huskies (31-8) overpowered the San Diego State Aztecs (32-7) 76-59 to win their fifth national championship, April. 3, 2023 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Tx. 

Uconn used a balanced scoring attack Tristen Newton scored 19 points, Adama Sanogo put up 17 and Jordan Hawkins had 16 while Andre Jackson Jr. led the Huskies with six assists and Newton and Sanogo both came down with 10 boards. 

The Aztects leading scorers were Keshad Johnson with 14 points, Darrion Trammell and Lamont Butler with 13 a piece. Nathan Mensah grabbed the most rebounds with 6 and Johnson and Butler collected 4 each. 

“It feels good to deliver what you said you would do and promised you would do and do it right, it feels great to deliver with these players,” said Uconn Head Coach Dan Hurley. 

The Huskies jumped out to a 16 point lead early in the game and stayed in control throughout the final.San Diego State cut the lead to five with 5:19 left to play, like earlier in the game. Uconn opened it right back up. Hawkins started a 9-0 scoring run by draining a three which led to the Huskies cruising to a 17-point victory.

“Coach drew something up for me, I know he trusted me to make that shot,” said Hawkins.

“It was giant, huge for us. It really gave us a lot more confidence, because they were playing really well…,”said Uconn forward Alex Karaban on Hawkins’ shot that jump-started their run.

Uconn breezed through its competition the whole tournament, not just in the national championship game. They beat every team they played by double-digits and scored at least 70 points a game while only allowing 65 points or less in each contest.

“They were really dominant, when I watched Uconn play I knew after the sweet sixteen that they were gonna win because the analysts were saying Uconn had been playing like this all year,” said junior Isaac Gable.

Only 9.86 percent of brackets had Uconn going to the final four and 4.31 percent had Uconn advancing to the national championship. Two percent of all brackets  picked them to win it all. 

“I think they did amazing. They were kinda underrated and were a very disciplined team, and picking against them in my bracket was a mistake,” said junior Trevor Ketrick.”