ARLINGTON, Texas – Connecticut guard Shabazz Napier loves to talk about the “dogfights” his team has been through this season. The Huskies may have jumped into the ring for their biggest slugfest ever on Monday night.
Guess who came out on top? UConn led by 15 points in the first half and nine points in the second, then held off Kentucky for a 60-54 victory before a record NCAA crowd of 79,238 at AT&T Stadium Monday night.
That’s right. Go ahead and rub your eyes. The UConn Huskies are national champions once again. That’s four times since 1999. The big difference this time is that Kevin Ollie was coaching – not Hall of Famer Jim Calhoun.
UConn was led by Napier, who scored 22 points, and hit the biggest shot of the game, of course. After Kentucky pulled within 48-47, Napier hit a deep 3 with 6:53 left and Kentucky, which never led, never got closer than two points again.
Ryan Boatright had 14 points for UConn. Kentucky was led by James Young’s 10 points.
Napier, Niels Giffey and Tyler Olander become the first players in NCAA history to have bookend national titles as freshmen (2011) and seniors.
Kentucky had seven assists on 11 baskets in the first half but the Wildcats also committed seven turnovers. Four of those came in the opening minutes as UConn quickness on defense set the early tone. The Huskies scored 11 points off those turnovers as UConn built a 30-15 lead with 5:59 left before halftime.
Napier led the Huskies with 15 points at halftime. Napier and Boatright combined for three of UConn’s five steals and 23 of UConn’s 35 points.
The Wildcats hit four 3-pointers in the final eight minutes of the half to get back into the game. Andrew Harrison had two and James Young had two. Young led the Wildcats with 10 points at the break.
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