Huskies defeat Aztecs 76-59 in March Madness championship

The Huskies defeated the Aztecs, putting together a complete game and holding against a second half run by the Aztecs, closing out the game comfortably. Photo collage by ANGELINA HICKS, editor-in-chief

It’s one thing to say a handful of words and boldly predict the future. But it’s another thing to bring those words to life.

“People better get us now, that’s all. They better get us now cause it’s coming,” Dan Hurley, the head coach at the University of Connecticut, said in a press conference after a tough loss against Villanova University in 2020. 

In the 2021 and 2022 March Madness tournaments, the Huskies lost in the first round against the No. 10 seed University of Maryland Terrapins and the No. 12 seed New Mexico State University Aggies, respectively. 

This year’s tournament told a very different story. As a No. 5 seed, the Huskies won every single postseason game by double digits, which is not bad for a team that was unranked before the season started. By the end, they defeated the San Diego State University (SDSU) Aztecs 76-59.

To no one’s surprise, March Madness “upsets” not only shatter the dreams of favored teams but also give overlooked teams the spotlight they deserve. This is expected in one-off elimination games.

As No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, the Huskies and Aztecs earned their spotlight, becoming the first teams of their seeding to match up in the 2023 championship game.

During the first half, the Aztecs got off to a great 8-4 start, but soon after, the Huskies responded with a 26-9 run. The Huskies offense lived on transition baskets, shooting on the perimeter and the unguardable post-game of forward Adama Sanogo. Their defense swarmed SDSU players in the paint, forcing SDSU into tough shot opportunities.

Josh Finehirsh, a junior broadcast journalism and documentary major at Chapman University, said that while the first couple of minutes of the game were tightly contested, UConn settled on offense, thriving off the post game of Sanogo, which led to guard Jordan Hawkins creating shots on the perimeter and vice versa.

“UConn was able to start working the inside (and) out game with Sanogo and Hawkins,” Finehirsh said. “Andre Jackson was setting a ton of great screens (and) pushing the ball up the court. (It was great for UConn) having shooters like Hawkins, Karaban and (Joey) Calcaterra (to get the offense going).”

The Aztecs’ defense ranked 26th in the nation, which kept them in the game. But the Achilles’ heel for the Aztecs was a lack of continuity on offense. It didn’t help that Sanogo and Alex Karaban locked down the paint as they relentlessly contested layups and blocked shots.

SDSU needed to make adjustments, primarily on offense. Julianna Campas, a graduate student studying health and strategic communication, noticed that in the second half, the Aztecs honed in on getting the Huskies’ forwards and centers out of position through screens and drives to the basket.

“It was (the Aztecs) setting on-ball screens that pulled the (UConn) bigs out of their shot blocking area,” Campas said. “I noticed (Darrion Trammell) on SDSU was able to drive into the (paint) and then kick (the ball) out, and they had a way better flow once they were able to get into the middle. Even though they weren’t finishing as much at the basket, they were still able to get more in the flow of the offense driving and kicking, as opposed to passing it around the outside and trying to force shots in the inside.”

The second half was quite the change of pace. The Aztecs adjusted on offense by being more aggressive in their drives to the paint and by drawing fouls inside when there was no window for a layup. 

They also picked up their on-ball pressure, and in their run to close the lead to five points, they forced a couple of turnovers that converted into some easy baskets. But even with the ferocious comeback of the Aztecs, Finehirsh did not trust the Aztecs to maintain a lead due to their poor shooting performance before the sudden burst of scoring.

“I thought they could maybe take the lead, but I didn’t think they were going to win just because they didn’t have that ‘go-to’ scorer,” Finehirsh said. “I did not trust San Diego State. If they needed to hit a buzzer beater to win the game (against UConn), who do they give the ball to?”

The Huskies had a big enough lead to weather the storm. Soon after the Aztecs went on a 8-0 scoring run to bring the score to 56-50, they experienced another scoring drought. The Huskies took advantage with timely buckets from Hawkins down the stretch and getting Sanogo, Hawkins and guard Tristan Newton to the free throw line.

Campas wanted SDSU to win, and she was excited to see them close the gap on UConn, but she knew that UConn had more talent, especially with their forwards and centers, to prevent an upset from happening in the later moments of the game.

“I had watched a lot of previous games of UConn, and I knew that they’re a very deep team,” Campas said. “They can shoot inside (and) they have bigs inside that can score. I think the matchup overall, I thought (realistically) UConn was going to win the whole time, but I (personally) wanted SDSU to win.”

As a team, the Huskies shot 43.4% from the field. The Huskies’ top three scorers were Newton, who finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, Sanogo with 17 points and 10 rebounds and Hawkins with 16 points and 4 rebounds.

The Aztecs shot a woeful 32.2% from the field, and their best performers were forward Keshad Johnson, who finished with 14 points and 4 rebounds, guard Lamont Butler with 13 points and 4 rebounds. Guard Darrion Tramell was also a best performer from that night with 13 points and 3 rebounds.

SDSU won a streak of nail-biting games during March Madness, including their Final Four matchup against the Florida Atlantic Owls, where Butler hit a buzzer-beating shot to send the Aztecs to the finals. But their fortunes ran out against a team with more depth and balance in the UConn Huskies.

“It really goes to show that anything can happen, and it doesn’t matter what ranking you are,” Campas said. “(SDSU) was the fifth seed in the championship game, which is pretty cool. I also think going into the tournament, people didn’t respect them, so I think they definitely made people respect them more, and they’re a team to look out for (in the) next year.”

UConn was unranked during the season, and Finehirsh added that he personally thought the Huskies were underseeded, given all the playmakers they had.

“UConn had better overall players,” Finehirsh said. “I just knew that (UConn) was gonna get (Hawkins) back involved in the (second half of the) game. He hit a lot of clutch free throws (and) hit some clutch threes. Jackson was bringing the ball up (on offense) and consistently getting pressure (on defense). They were able to get Sanogo open through different plays as well. They weren’t just dumping the ball to him.”

If there’s one thing that the UConn Huskies continued to prove to everyone, it’s that one-game eliminations will always be filled with improbable outcomes and magical runs to a championship title, even when all the cards say that a team stands no chance to win it all.