Freshman Stephon Castle tied his career-high with 21 points in his Final Four debut, helping the top-seed UConn men's basketball team (36-3) to an 86-72 win over four-seed Alabama (25-12) on Saturday night in the National Semifinals at State Farm Stadium. The Huskies will play for their second-straight national title and sixth in program history on Monday night.
Connecticut improved to 11-1 all-time in the Final Four with the win and advanced to its sixth national championship game. All five starters scored in double-figures in support of Castle's team-high 21, as the Huskies shot 50.0 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from 3-point range in the win.
Donovan Clingan scored 18 points to go with five rebounds and four blocks in the triumph, while Alex Karaban and Cam Spencer each finished with 14 points and eight rebounds. Tristen Newton was the fifth in double-figures and narrowly missed a double-double with 12 points and nine assists.
How it Happened
The Crimson Tide started things with an early 3-pointer, but the Huskies emphatically answered with a 7-0 run to build an early advantage. The Alabama offense was able to keep pace with Connecticut in the early going, and a long jumper put the Crimson Tide ahead 18-15 with 12:27 to go in the opening stanza.
Alabama pushed its early lead to as many as five, before a 6-0 UConn spurt capped by a Clingan slam forced a Crimson Tide timeout with the Huskies back ahead at 24-23 and 9:30 on the first half clock.
After falling behind by one around the five minute mark, Newton scored five-straight to give Connecticut a 35-31 lead ahead of the final media timeout of the first. The Huskies kept that four-point lead into the break, taking a 44-40 advantage to half behind a game-high 13 points from Castle.
The Huskies scored the first two buckets of the second half to take their largest lead of the day, before a Crimson Tide 7-0 run slimmed the advantage right back to one. Again Connecticut was able to counter, and a 7-0 run of its own capped by a Newton-to-Castle alley-oop stretched the lead back to eight at 55-47 before the first media stoppage of the second.
After Alabama briefly tied the game back up at 56-all, an 8-0 run for the Huskies pushed the lead back to its largest of the day and forced a timeout with 10:27 to play in regulation. A put-back by Clingan at the 5:07 mark gave UConn its first double-digit lead of the day, going up 71-61. Back-to-back slams from the big man pushed the lead to 80-68 inside of two minutes to play and the Huskies were able to close out the 14-point win.
Inside The Numbers
- UConn shot 31-of-62 (50.0 percent) from the floor and 10-of-25 (40.0 perecent) from 3-point range
- The Huskies finished with a 37-29 rebounding edge and out-scored the Tide 38-26 in the paint
- Connecticut dished out 20 assists against only four turnovers
- UConn turned 12 offensive rebounds into an 18-14 edge in second chance points
- Castle's 21 points came on 7-of-13 shooting, as the freshman hit a pair of 3-pointers
- After Alabama shot 50.0 percent in the first half, the Huskies held the Tide to a 40.0 percent mark in the second frame
News and Notes
- UConn improves to 70-32 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, 6-1 in the National Semifinals and 11-1 in the Final Four – the best mark in tournament history
- Connecticut extended its program-record 11-game winning streak in the NCAA Tournament and has won each of those games by double-figures – an NCAA record
- The Huskies are now 3-0 all-time against Alabama
- All five starters scored in double-figures for the fifth time this season
- Clingan has blocked multiple shots in a game on 23 occasions this season and has recorded at least three blocks in a game 13 times
- Castle's 20-plus point effort was his fourth this season
Up Next
The two best teams in America finally meet on Monday night, with UConn taking on top-seed Purdue at 9:20 ET / 6:20 PT on TBS.
