UConn Rolls Alabama To Set Up Classic Big Man Duel With Purdue For National Title
Who says the big man is no longer at the center of college basketball?
Check out the men's NCAA Tournament national championship game on Monday night. Connecticut 7-foot-1 center Donovan Clingan will take on Purdue 7-4 center Zach Edey, who just became the first player to win back-to-back national player of the year awards since 7-4 center Ralph Sampson took three from 1981-83.
Clingan and No. 1 UConn stuffed upstart, hot-shooting, 4 seed Alabama, 86-72, Saturday night in the national semifinal nightcap at the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona. The Huskies (36-3) will meet Edey and No. 1 seed Purdue (34-4) for the tallest prize at 9:20 p.m. Monday on TBS.
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Clingan scored 18 points and added five rebounds with two exclamation slam dunks to close out the Crimson Tide (25-12). Edey scored 20 points with 12 rebounds in the first national semifinal earlier Saturday for a 63-50 win over No. 11 seed North Carolina State.
"A battle of the giants," defending national champion UConn coach Dan Hurley said after Saturday's game. "I think it's great for college basketball. Us and Purdue have been the two best teams."
UConn and Purdue in the chalk championship of top seeds - a rarity in the NCAA Tournament.
"It feels great," Clingan said. "But the job's not done yet."
Connecticut coach Dan Hurley enjoys another double-digit NCAA Tournament victory Saturday night over Alabama at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona at the Final Four. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
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Playing in its first Final Four, Alabama came out as hot as its crimson school color, shooting 73 percent from 3-point range (8 of 11) and trailed 44-40 at the half. Alabama hung close through much of the second half, but cooled late, and in the end could not score. And Alabama had exactly zero fast break buckets against UConn's suffocating defense.
"It's hard to sustain shooting 73 percent from the 3-point line," said Clingan, who hit 8-of-14 shots and scored 10 in the second half. My teammates put me in the best positions possible."
Guard Stephon Castle led the Huskies with 21 points. Mark Sears scored 24 points for Alabama, including 3-of-6 from 3-point range. In the end, Alabama shot 47 percent from beyond the arc (11 of 23).
UConn was too much inside, out-rebounding Alabama, 37-29. The Tide stayed closer than most, though, as UConn came in averaging 28-point victories in its previous four NCAA Tournament games this season.
Alabama Hung Close Until Late
At the 12-minute mark, Alabama tied UConn 56-56, but the Huskies eventually built a 10-point lead at 71-61 with 5:07 to go and spent virtually the rest of the game up by double digits.
"First, just want to thank our guys for getting this school to a Final Four for the first time in school history," Alabama coach Nate Oats said. "We had an unbelievable run. Unfortunate that it ended tonight, but we played arguably the best team in the country. I mean, UConn is top five in offense and defense. I thought our guys did a good job staying in there. They're good. Like Danny says, they're close to being bulletproof."
The Huskies will be playing for their sixth national championship and will be bidding to become the first repeat champion in the men's game since Florida in 2006 and '07. Purdue has never won a national title and played for it just once in 1969.
Each will face a tall order against Edey and Clingan.
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"Yeah, they match up pretty well," Alabama 6-11 center Grant Nelson said after scoring 19 points with 15 rebounds. "They both draw a lot of fouls."
Edey scored 35 points with seven rebounds in a 92-86 win over Alabama on Dec. 9 to Nelson's 11 points and seven boards.
"They're tough to play against as a team really," Nelson said. "It will be a good match-up. Tough guarding both of them. If you put them up against each other, it's really just who is more physical, who can foul less."
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But will it be as good as the women's chalk national championship game?
That will be between No. 1 seeds South Carolina (37-0) and Iowa (34-4) today (3 p.m., ESPN). The Iowa-UConn national semifinal drew a women's TV ratings record of 14.2 million at peak and an average of 10.8 million on Friday.
Game on!