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By Editor, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association
Photo: it’s sinking in for Adam Seiko as UConn ends the Aztecs’ NCAA Tournament title hopes. Photo credit: Screen shot, CBS
April 3, 2023 (Houston) - San Diego State’s remarkable run in the NCAA Tournament ended Monday as Connecticut prevailed 76-59 to take the title in Houston.
In a season of milestones, the Aztecs (32-7) couldn’t achieve the final step, a national crown, in the face of the Huskies (31-8), who won their third championship since 2011 and their fifth since 1999.
Yet SDSU gave the Mountain West conference a representative in the title game for the first time while attempting to become the first fifth seed ever to come out on top.
UConn relentlessly pressured San Diego State, but the gutty Aztecs, down 12 at the half, battled back to make it a five-point game with just over five minutes to play.
Photo, right: Aztecs fans packed Viejas Arena for NCAA title game watch party at San Diego State University. Photo by Chris Stone“This is a really good team that beat us tonight,” head coach Brian Dutcher told CBS, calling UConn “deserving national champs.”
The teams had to dispatch better seeds to get to the championship game, a matchup of the winners from the South and West regions. No. 5 SDSU prevailed over the tournament’s top seed, Alabama, while No. 4 UConn crushed perennial power Gonzaga.
But they did it in different ways. San Diego State only overpowered Furman, outlasting their opponents in a series of tightly contested games, the last two by just one point. UConn, meanwhile, posted double-digit margins of victory in each of their five tournament wins.
The start portended good things for SDSU as they established an early lead, 10-6, after three-pointers by Lamont Butler and Darrion Trammell, followed by jumpers by Keshad Johnson and Matt Bradley.
The smooth start, however, did not hold. San Diego State, prone to offensive droughts, suffered a remarkable one, going 11 minutes without a field goal, and UConn outscored them 23-5 during that juncture. The Aztecs’ only offense came on free throws by Johnson, Bradley and Nathan Mensah.
Darrion Trammell broke the spell with a jumper in the paint with 5:25 left and Butler added a three, but Tristen Newton and Joey Calcaterra had threes that gave their team brief 16-point leads.
SDSU had a glimmer of hope, though, as they held UConn scoreless over the final three minutes of the half, while Johnson and Trammell, with jumpers, narrowed the gap.
The Aztecs shot 29%, and had no points off the bench, a typical strength for them. That compares to UConn’s 50%, as the Huskies, led by Newton, Jordan Hawkins and Adama Sonogo, went into the break with a 36-24 lead.
Bradley opened the scoring in the second half, but the UConn lead grew to 15 before Houston native Jaedon LeDee led the charge that gave the Huskies a scare.
He put in two jumpers while Johnson added a three and Trammell had a layup to pull closer at 56-50. After Sonogo scored, and Butler drove to the basket for a layup, Johnson hit two free throws to make it 60-55 with 5:19 remaining.
But it was all Huskies after that, as UConn re-established a double-digit lead on the way to the win.
SDSU, which regularly sets the pace in the MW, captured the conference’s regular-season and tournament titles, and though well regarded, often found themselves tagged as the underdog – even against lower seeds – during March Madness.
Dutcher consistently maintained that if the Aztecs played on their terms – basically determined, pesky defense, with just enough offense – they could beat UConn.
“Our standard of play is what our goal is,” he said Sunday ahead of the championship game. “If they beat us at our highest standard, then they deserve to win.”
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