The 2024 Final Four ended in the UConn Huskies going back to back. It all started with 1-seeds Purdue and UConn, and surprises 4-seed Alabama, and 11-seed NC State. On Saturday April 6, UConn defeated Alabama 86-72. Alabama had a great shooting night, but it wasn’t enough to beat the seemingly unbeatable Huskies. Stephen Castle was dominating with 21 points, five rebounds, and two assists for the Huskies.
On the same day Purdue beat NC State 63-50. Purdue star Zach Edey led the team with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Purdue had a total of 16 turnovers. DJ Horne of NC State had 20 points, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Boilermakers.
The championship game was set on Monday night, April 8. Number 1 Purdue faced off against the defending champions UConn. It was going to be a hard-fought game between the two tallest players going head-to-head, Zach Edey and Donovan Clingan. The game started off pretty even with ending the first half 36-30, UConn being on top. Zach Edey was dominating Donovan Clingan early on, but UConn didn’t let that stop them and ended up outplaying the Boilermakers. Freshman, Sophia Du, expressed “I wanted UConn to win because I think they are the best team in the country”. The final score was 75-60 and UConn became the first team in 17 years to win back-to-back.
Many Steinbrenner students watched and had opinions like Junior, Luis Duran saying “I am happy with the outcome because I lived in Connecticut, and I’ve been to multiple games.” Another Junior, Rylan Tierney states, “I did not want UConn to win because everyone thought they were going to win so I wanted a new team.” Now we have to wait until next year to see if any team can beat the back-to-back champion, UConn!
