No. 1 UConn faces No. 1 Purdue in tonight’s men’s March Madness finale
The GIST: For all the parity-driven upsets that characterized the last two men’s basketball seasons, this year’s title game is all chalk: Two highly-decorated No. 1 seeds, the UConn Huskies and Purdue Boilermakers, will duke it out for the national trophy tonight at 9:20 p.m. ET on TBS.
Final Four recap: For a shot at tonight’s one shining moment, Purdue stole the glass slippers from this year’s Cinderella, No. 11 NC State, with Saturday’s 63–50 dub. Though far from the Boilermakers’ best — sloppy play caused 16 turnovers — they held NC State star center DJ Burns Jr. to just eight points, largely thanks to repeat Player of the Year Zach Edey.
- UConn, on the other hand, was a fine-tuned machine: Led by freshman guard Stephon Castle’s 21 points, all five starters scored in double-digits to beat No. 4 Alabama 86–72 on Saturday.
Tonight’s championship: Both teams are lethal from beyond the arc, so this one, like most of Purdue’s games, will come down to Edey. If center Donovan Clingan and the rest of UConn’s elite D can contain him, the Huskies will likely become the first back-to-back national champs since Florida in 2006–07.
- If not, it’ll be a sprint to the finish: Even an offense as dominant as UConn’s can’t afford to miss many shots against the Boilermakers. Any mistakes could see Purdue cap their redemption run with a program-first natty. Cue the music — it’s time for one last dance.
