With string of blowouts, UConn chasing more than a national title — it's chasing history

HOUSTON — Isaiah Wong offered a one-word explanation for why Miami scored a season-low 59 points on Saturday night.

“I’d just say UConn.”

Norchad Omier credited the Huskies for disrupting him and his teammates with their length and their pressure.

“They made us do things we don’t normally do.”

Harlond Beverly raved about how consistently UConn’s guards hit 3s going from a dead sprint into a jump shot.

“People who can do that are professionals.”

Sometimes a losing locker room brims with laments that the outcome could have been different if only that team performed up to its capabilities. That wasn’t the tone in the Miami locker room on Saturday night after UConn advanced to Monday night’s national title game with a convincing 72-59 victory over the Hurricanes.

Yes, Miami bemoaned settling for too many contested shots rather than making the extra pass. Yes, Miami kicked itself for not executing elements of its game plan to contain UConn star Adama Sanogo. But there was also a twinge of resignation from the Hurricanes that they lost to the better team, a team that is dominating this NCAA tournament like few others have previously.

UConn is the sixth men’s college basketball team to reach the national title game winning all of its previous NCAA tournament games by double figures. No opponent had even come within 15 of the Huskies until Miami managed to eat away at a 20-point second-half deficit just enough to make the final score more respectable.

Since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams, only 1996 Kentucky, 2009 North Carolina and 2016 Villanova have ever captured the national title with an average margin of victory of at least 20 points. UConn’s average NCAA tournament margin of victory thus far has been 20.6 entering Monday night’s national title game against an experienced, physical San Diego State team that has gritted out three straight come-from-behind victories.

While the prevailing notion for months has been that college basketball has lots of good teams this season but no great ones, UConn is forcing a reexamination.

The UConn team that steamrolled its way to a 14-0 record in late December certainly had the feel of a juggernaut. Those Huskies annihilated every opponent in their path, including the likes of Oregon, Alabama and Iowa State at the PK85 tournament in Portland.

Then came a rough patch that sent UConn tumbling to the fringes of the AP Top 25 and caused the Huskies to enter this NCAA tournament as an off-the-radar No. 4 seed. They suffered six losses in eight games, including one at home against middling St. John’s that even UConn coach Dan Hurley has admitted was a “clunker.”

In retrospect, while UConn came unhinged a bit defensively and hit a perimeter shooting slump, that stretch wasn’t quite as bad as it appeared. In those eight games alone, the Huskies were still a top-30 team nationally, per Bart Torvik’s T-rankings. Four of the six losses came on the road against NCAA tournament teams. And at that point, the Huskies were still figuring out how to adjust to opponents sagging off Andre Jackson Jr. and daring him to shoot.

“Most teams have lost six, seven, eight games, even the best teams if you look at their overall record,” Hurley said earlier in the NCAA tournament. “We just lost a bunch of games during a really tight stretch. Again, I've said it, tough scheduling. The Big East is a monster, and I think teams all go through it.”

Whatever the explanation, the UConn of November and December is back. In fact, the Huskies might be even better. They possess an overwhelming combination of size, length, speed and perimeter shooting that has left five straight NCAA tournament opponents looking overmatched.

Part of what sets UConn apart is having, not one, but two elite centers. Sanogo is one of the most productive big men in college basketball, a bruising low-post presence and a force on the offensive glass. Donovan Clingan is a cheat code as a backup, a mobile 7-foot freshman who alters shots at the rim and defends in space better than Sanogo and whose per-minute production portends an NBA future.

Another key to UConn’s success is Jackson, who makes up for his lack of outside shooting with his playmaking, defense and otherworldly feel for the game. The Huskies then surround Jackson and whichever big man is on the floor with an array of players who can both shoot and defend, from catch-and-shoot specialist Jordan Hawkins, to stretch forward Alex Karaban, to impact transfers Tristen Newton and Joey Calcaterra.

As Gonzaga coach Mark Few put it last week after his team lost to UConn, "It's a lot. It's a lot."

San Diego State will pose a different challenge for UConn than many of the other teams that the Huskies have seen this NCAA tournament. The defensive-minded, never-say-die Aztecs will pressure the ball, choke off driving lanes, close out hard on shooters and mix in an array of ball-screen coverages.

This NCAA tournament has proven that you pick against the underdog at your own peril, and San Diego State has already delivered one of the biggest upsets. Still, if UConn finishes off this run with another resounding double-digit victory, then it will cement itself as more than just a national champion.

So far, the Huskies have stormed through the NCAA tournament unchallenged. Only a few teams before them can say the same.