On Friday night, the No. 7 Connecticut Huskies defied all odds and beat the overall top seeded Florida Gators in the national semifinals, 63-53, at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Huskies now move on to the NCAA tournament final for the fourth time in the last 15 years.
[sc:MarchMadness ]No. 1 Florida vs. No. 7 Connecticut March Madness Recap
In the biggest game of his career, UConn’s brightest star in the tournament, Shabazz Napier, scored only 12 points – his lowest of UConn’s Madness run thus far – but forward DeAndre Daniels picked up the slack, putting up a double-double performance of 20 points and 10 rebounds.
From the get-go, it seemed that Florida was on its way to another decisive win with seven unanswered points. The Gators even held a 12-point lead, 16-4, with under 10 minutes to play in the first half before the Huskies waged a 21-6 run of their own to grab the lead by half time, 25-22.
With momentum still on Connecticut’s side, Kevin Ollie’s boys emerged from the tunnel and continued to flummox the Gators.
The Huskies did most of their damage on the inside, outscoring the Gators in the paint 26-14 in the second half.
Conspicuously missing for Florida was the steady game of SEC Player of the year Scottie Wilbekin, who only had four points after dropping 23 against Dayton in the Elite 8. Compounding matters for Billy Donovan’s team was the untimely absence of Michael Frazier’s shooting touch. Frazier only had three points after being limited by the Huskies’ defense to just 1 of 3 from the field.
With both guards struggling, Patric Young and Casey Prather carried the load for Florida, scoring 19 and 15 points, respectively.
Overall, the Huskies are 5-0 SU and ATS in their last five games, and are 2-0 under in the last two.
The Huskies will be a force to reckon with in the final. They have won all three of the finals they’ve made in their history.
Read our National Championship Game preview between the University of Connecticut Huskies and the Kentucky Wildcats.
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