Dan Hurley and Collegiate Conn had another dominant win in the NCAA Tournament on Monday night.
The Huskies took a lead in the second half and defeated Zach Eady and Purdue 75-60 in the national championship game at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. With this, UConn officially won his sixth national title since 1999 and became the first program to successfully defend the championship since Florida State did it 17 years before his.
Things got a little out of hand along the way, but here are five of the best moments from the 2024 National Championship Game.
Zack Eadie defeats Donovan Clingan in the early stages
Eadie won the battle between the bigs, at least in the first half.
On Monday night, Eadie scored 16 points in the first 20 minutes, while Donovan Clingan didn't score much, somehow only allowing five points. Successfully made post-up shots throughout the season. — There was something I could do to stop him.
A perfect example of Eadie's inside dominance in the first 20 minutes was his huge alley-oop dunk over Clingan early on.
Zack Eady's consecutive blocks
Eadie kept the Boilermakers running almost single-handedly in the early years. At one point, he scored 11 points in a row at Purdue.
After dunking Clingan, Eadie made two wild blocks on the same possession on the other side.
But despite the first half, the Huskies still held a 36-30 lead going into the break. It was the first time Purdue trailed in half of the tournament.
Tristen Newton and Samson Johnson Connection
UW started the second half with an 11-5 burst, and the Huskies held Zach Eady from scoring for more than 10 minutes, which overlapped with the halftime break.
Soon the university was taken over for good, thanks to a great connection from Tristen Newton to Samson Johnson. Newton hit Johnson with two lobs on consecutive possessions. All Edie could do was watch.
Newton, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the Final Four, then made a wild layup that had nothing to do with those assists. He almost lost the ball several times on his way to the rim, but he still managed to make it.
From there, UConn had no trouble en route to the win.
Camden Heide's tournament dunk
Although the game didn't change much, Camden Heide delivered what was arguably the best dunk not only of the Final Four, but of the entire tournament.
Just minutes into the second half, Eadie missed a hook shot that hit the post. Heide was left wide open and took a shot with perfect timing. He flew in and threw down a one-handed putback dunk that surprised just about everyone watching.
That bucket was Heide's only shot of the night.
Dan Hurley almost sent off for being late
The play didn't make much sense in the end, but it nearly led to one of the funniest and most ill-timed ejections in college basketball history.
With less than three minutes left in the game, Hurley appeared to forget where he was and received a warning from the referee. The problem was that Hurley walked onto the court during the game and lightly shoved college guard Cam Spencer.
Not the best move.
But hey, everything worked out for him. Hurley has built a veritable dynasty at Storrs over the past few years, joining an elite group of college coaches in the history of the sport.
