The NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball national championship games were held on Sunday afternoon and Monday night in Texas, with the women’s title game in Dallas between LSU and Iowa and San Diego State and UConn playing in Houston on the men’s side.
At the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sunday afternoon, LSU rode a very hot first half of shooting to a 17 point halftime lead and never looked back in defeating Iowa 102-85 for their first ever women’s national championship. It was a tight first quarter that the Tigers came out of with a five point advantage 27-22. The Hawkeyes hit a pair of three-pointers early in the second to take a brief 29-28 lead, but LSU hit 6-7 from the behind the arc in the period (75% three-point shooting in the first half) to take command 59-42 at the break. Iowa (31-7) made another run after trailing by 22, going on a 15-2 spurt to slice it to nine in the third quarter and trailed by 11 entering the fourth. Foul trouble for the Hawkeyes was too much to overcome, as they were only able to get within 10 the rest of the way. National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark finished a remarkable season and tournament with 30 points and eight assists (8-19 three-pointers) to help Iowa appear in their second title game in school history (1993), as they were also seeking their first championship. LSU (34-2) put five players in double figures led by Jasmine Carson with 22 points, Alexis Morris 21, and LaDazhia Williams with 20. The Tigers were in the Final Four for the sixth time ever and for the first time since 2008. The game had 9.9 million viewers, the most of any all-time in collegiate women’s basketball.
At NRG Stadium in Houston on Monday night, the University of Connecticut continued their dominance in the tournament as they held off a San Diego State second half rally and would then pull away 76-59 to win their fifth men’s basketball national title. The Aztecs (32-7) got off to a good early start in their first national championship game appearance, but then would go cold and the Huskies took over in the first half leading by as many as 16 and by 12 at halftime. With UConn (31-8) leading by 14 with nine minutes to play, SDSU went on a run of 9-0 to slice the deficit to five. That would be as close as they’d get, as the play of Jordan Hawkins, Tristen Newton, and the most outstanding player of the tournament Adama Sanogo would help the Huskies put it away. All five of the UConn titles have come since 1999, and puts them in a tie for fourth place for most championships with Indiana and Duke. Newton (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Sanogo (17 pts, 10 reb) both had double doubles in the victory. Hawkins added 16. Keshad Johnson had 14 points, and Lamont Butler along with Darrion Trammell had 13 points a piece in the loss for San Diego State. This 2022-23 UConn team matches the 2010-11 national champion Huskies squad as the only ones in NCAA history to not be ranked in the preseason Top 25 poll and then win the national title.
Story by Chris Lessner
