When Connecticut reaches a Final Four, the Huskies almost never lose. That was the case again on Saturday night when they beat Illinois 71-62 in the national semifinals. They are now 13-1 all-time in Final Four games, and will play Michigan for the national title on Monday night.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — It's the Final Four, and Connecticut is here. History tells us there is really only one result.
The Huskies win.
They did just that on Saturday night, beating Illinois 71-62 in the first national semifinal game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The Huskies are now 13-1 all-time in Final Four games, and their .929 winning is the best all-time with five or more NCAA Final Four games.
UConn's defense was spectacular, holding Illinois to just 34 percent shooting from the field. They made just six three-pointers, and were just 23 percent from deep.
"I think we spent a majority of the year as a top-five defense and just the life-and-death nature of this tournament, I think, has created this sort of urgency,'' UConn coach Danny Hurley said. "I thought kind of the best thing that we did was get into them in the full court and get into them a little bit more in the half court and move some of those two-man actions a little bit further away and put them under a little bit more duress.
"Obviously to hold them to 33 percent from the field, three assists, eight turnovers in the game, we won a lot of one-on-one battles. Not all, but yeah, our defense sustained us. We could have played better offensively and finished plays more. But we had great ball security, and our defense was elite.''
UConn will play Michigan on Monday night for the NCAA championship. If the Huskies win, it will be their seventh NCAA title, all since 1999.
Here's the game story from UConn Roundtable writer Jami Leabow.
UConn star Alex Karaban had a rough night offensively, making just 1 of 8 shots and scoring only nine points. It was only the second time all year that he made just one shot.
But his teammates picked him up.
Freshman Braylon Mullins, an Indiana native, scored 15 points, including four three-pointers. One of them came late to help close out the win. Tarris Reed Jr. led the way with 17 points, and Solo Ball had 13.
"I thought we were just getting great shots. We were getting great shots the whole way through, and that's not easy,'' Hurley said. "I thought we were able to execute to get good looks all over the court. We had a great process, the way we were going about our offensive execution, the efforts we were making defensively.
"I just thought we had a great process, and we were going about things the right way. When you're doing that as a team and you're just not making the shots, you're just, hey, listen, if we get stops and rebound the ball and don't turn it over we're going to get great shots and we're due to make a couple. The year hasn't been a joyride. We haven't been a machine of destruction. We've been a team that's had to grind out games like this. We're comfortable in a possession game like that.''
UConn's record at Final Four all-time (13-1)
1999 — UConn defeated Ohio State 64-58 in the national semifinals at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.; defeated Duke 77-74 in national title game in under coach Jim Calhoun. UConn finished 34-2 that season.
2004 — UConn defeated Duke 79-78 in the national semifinals at the Alamadome in San Antonio, Texas; defeated Georgia Tech 82-73 in national title game under Jim Calhoun. UConn finished the season 33-6.
2009 — UConn lost to Michigan State 82-73 in the national semifinals at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich. It is their only loss in Final Four history. UConn finished the season 31-5 under Jim Calhoun.
2011 — UConn defeated Kentucky 56-55 in the national semifinals at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas; defeated Butler 53-41 in the national title game under Jim Calhoun. UConn finished the season 32-9.
2014 — UConn defeated Florida 63-53 in the national semifinals at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; defeated Kentucky 60-54 in the national title game under Kevin Ollie. UConn finished the season 32-8.
2023 — UConn defeated Miami (Fla.) 72-59 in the national semifinals at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas; defeated San Diego State 76-59 in the national title game under Danny Hurley. UConn finished the season 31-8.
2024 — UConn defeated Alabama 86-72 in the national semifinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz; defeated Purdue 75-60 in the national title game under Danny Hurley. UConn finished the season 37-3.