Connecticut guard Andre Jackson Jr. dunks the ball over Miami ahead Norchad Omier, proper, throughout the second half of a Final Four school basketball recreation within the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, April 1, 2023, in Houston.

David J. Phillip/AP

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David J. Phillip/AP

Connecticut guard Andre Jackson Jr. dunks the ball over Miami ahead Norchad Omier, proper, throughout the second half of a Final Four school basketball recreation within the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, April 1, 2023, in Houston.

David J. Phillip/AP

HOUSTON — Nobody was guarding UConn’s greatest participant. So Adama Sanogo spun the ball to get his fingers excellent, set his ft behind the 3-point line and splashed within the shot. Then, lower than a minute later, he did it once more.

It was as a lot basketball clinic as spotlight video — and all of it completely becoming for the Huskies, who’re methodically steamrolling via a March Madness bracket that has been a free-for-all in all places else.

UConn doled out one other drama-free beatdown Saturday, getting 21 factors and 10 rebounds from Sanogo to dispatch Miami 72-59 and transfer one win from the varsity’s fifth nationwide title.

“There’s a lot of teams that want to play Monday,” Sanogo mentioned. “It means a lot to us.”

Jordan Hawkins overcame his abdomen bug and scored 13 for the Huskies, who got here into this most surprising Final Four as the one staff with any expertise on school basketball’s last weekend and with one of the best seeding of the 4 groups in Houston — at No. 4.

Against fifth-seeded Miami, they had been one of the best staff on the courtroom from starting to finish. Starting with three straight 3s — one jumper from Hawkins and two of these set pictures from Sanogo — UConn took a fast 9-0 lead and by no means trailed.

“This is something that I worked on all summer, especially shooting,” Sanogo mentioned.

On Monday within the title recreation, the Huskies will face San Diego State, which grew to become the primary staff to hit a buzzer-beater whereas trailing in a Final Four recreation for a 72-71 victory over Florida Atlantic. UConn was an early 7 1/2-point favourite, in line with FanDuel Sportsbook.

“They’re one of the best teams in the country,” UConn coach Dan Hurley mentioned of the Aztecs. “And I think it’s fitting that both of us kind of earned our way into this title game.”

But whereas the early recreation was an all-timer, the nightcap was merely extra of the identical from the Huskies (30-8).

The 13-point win was UConn’s closest for the reason that brackets got here out. The Huskies are the sixth staff for the reason that event expanded to 64 groups in 1985 to achieve the title recreation with 5 straight double-digit victories. It’s a powerful record of behemoths with a knack for closing: Four of the primary 5 went on to win the championship.

Some thought Miami (29-8), with the nation’s fifth-ranked offense and 4 gamers who’ve scored 20 factors not less than 3 times this season, is perhaps the staff to gradual this Huskies juggernaut. Not to be.

Isaiah Wong led the ‘Canes with 15 factors on 4-for-10 capturing. Harassed always by Sanogo, 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan and the remainder of Connecticut’s long-armed, rangy perimeter gamers, Miami, which got here in with the nation’s fifth-best offense, shot 25% within the first half and 33.3% for the sport.

Connecticut ahead Adama Sanogo scores previous Miami guard Isaiah Wong throughout the second half of a Final Four school basketball recreation within the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, April 1, 2023, in Houston.

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Connecticut ahead Adama Sanogo scores previous Miami guard Isaiah Wong throughout the second half of a Final Four school basketball recreation within the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, April 1, 2023, in Houston.

Brynn Anderson/AP

“Obviously what we tried to do not only didn’t work, I couldn’t even recognize it,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga mentioned. “Offensively we were out of sync, but defensively we were too.”

Not that UConn was all boring. The Huskies loved their very own type of buzzer-beater within the type of a 3 from Alex Karaban that despatched the Huskies jogging into the locker room with a 13-point lead at halftime.

They constructed it to twenty earlier than the primary TV timeout of the second half. By then, Jim Nantz, calling his final Final Four, may begin saving his voice for Monday.

Miami did get it underneath double digits just a few occasions, however this by no means received fascinating.

Not serving to: Hurricanes guard Nijel Pack missed about 5 minutes after managers had hassle finding an alternative to a busted shoe. Pack completed with eight factors, and Jordan Miller, who hit all 20 pictures he took from the ground and the road in Miami’s Elite Eight win, went 4 for 10 for 11 factors. Only one Miami participant made greater than half his pictures.

“I’m a defensive guy first and foremost,” Hurley mentioned. “I just love the way we guarded them. They’re one of the best offenses in the country, and we really disrupted them.”

UConn had 5 blocks, together with two from Sanogo, and 19 assists, led by eight from Tristen Newton — each indicators of the type of all-around effort the Huskies have been placing in for the reason that begin of February, after they started the bounce again from a six-loss-in-eight-games stretch that halted their momentum.

That chilly stretch is an enormous purpose they had been seeded solely fourth for March. Now, it is April and the quantity UConn is considering is “5” — as in, a fifth title that can come if it may well maintain this up for yet one more recreation.

“Maybe it was a little bit delusional,” Huskies guard Andre Jackson Jr. mentioned, “but we always knew we were the best team in our mind.”