UConn concludes a dominant run to its 2nd straight NCAA title, beating Zach Edey and Purdue 75-60

UConn delivered the latest of its suffocating basketball beatdowns, smothering Purdue for a 75-60 victory to become the first team since 2007 to capture back-to-back national championships

UConn delivered the latest of its suffocating basketball beatdowns Monday night, smothering Purdue for a 75-60 victory to become the first team since 2007 to capture back-to-back national championships.

Tristen Newton scored 20 points for the Huskies, who won their 12th straight March Madness game — not a single one of them decided by fewer than 13 points.

UConn was efficient on offense but won this with defense. The Huskies (37-3) limited the country’s second-best 3-point shooting team to a mere seven shots behind the arc — Purdue only made one — while happily allowing 7-foot-4 AP Player of the Year Zach Edey to go for 37 points on 25 shot attempts.

UConn joined the 2006-07 Florida Gators and the 1991-92 Duke Blue Devils as just the third team to repeat since John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty of the 1960s and ’70s.

Purdue made it this far a year after becoming just the second No. 1 seed in the history of March Madness to fall in the first round. But the Boilermakers (34-5) left the same way they came — still looking for the program’s first NCAA title.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness