For the first time in the NCAA Tournament, San Diego State was able to accomplish something no other team had against fourth-seeded Connecticut. The Aztecs made the Huskies uncomfortable late in a game. Still, an extended first-half scoring drought and a late run from UConn put SDSU in a hole that was too big to climb out of as it ran out of time and fell in the national title game, 76-59.
The Aztecs trimmed what had been a 16-point lead down to 5 with just over 5 minutes to play Monday night at NRG Stadium in Houston, but that was as close as they would get before UConn went on a 16-4 run to close out the game and secure its fifth national championship.
"We battled," SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher said. "Battled back to five in the second half, but gave them too much separation. We had to be at our best. We weren't at our best. A lot had to do with UConn. I'm proud of our guys. These guys have given me everything they had.
"... This is what all these guys are all about. It's about college athletics. They're good people, and they're good students, and they're really good players. We can feel good about the things we did. And we are. We feel good about the things we did. Disappointed in the loss, but there was a brotherhood in that locker room that will never be divided by a margin of victory or not winning at all. That brotherhood will last a lifetime. I told them that."
The Aztecs opened up the game in control early, but then things took a turn. After jumping out to a 10-6 lead, SDSU watched the Huskies go on a 16-2 run over an eight-minute stretch that completely flipped the game.
SDSU found itself down 10 points with 8:14 to play in the first half, and eventually Connecticut pushed its lead to 16 points by the 4:12 mark. That lead proved to ultimately be insurmountable despite the Aztecs' best efforts.
"I'm not going to lie, they have a lot of weapons," senior guard Matt Bradley said. "They were pretty good. To beat them, we had to make shots. I shot poorly. And you had to have a really good game to beat those dudes on the offensive end. But defensively we fought hard. We cut it to five.
"... A lot of guys stepped up for them. And they make all their free throws. So they're a really good team, well coached, and hats off to them. They battled, and we battled, too. They're a really good team."
The Aztecs accomplished plenty of firsts throughout the NCAA Tournament, which is the culmination of years of work for both the players and Dutcher and his staff. Securing its first trip to the Final Four was a milestone in and of itself, so to finish the year as the national runner-up helps prove to Dutcher that what he is doing, and what Steve Fisher started on The Mesa, is working and could just be the start for the Aztecs.
"We have a good team coming back," Dutcher said. "We're going to be very good next year. I had two freshmen, they're as good as any freshmen I have had in my program, couldn't get on the floor. They're going to contribute next year.
"People are going to say, 'Why didn't he play last year?' Well, we were really good last year. We're going to be good next year. With that being said, you run into the tournament and you look at all the seeds that get through, it's hard to win in March. That's why everyone's so disappointed in our success over the last three years. It's like we lost a one-possession game to Houston. We lost a one-possession game to Creighton and we ran into a hot Syracuse team.
"It's hard to win in March. Those teams are really good, too. But you have to get a little luck and get the right matchups and have to be playing your best. That's what this team did. We've had a lot of good teams at San Diego State and we'll continue to have good teams."
San Diego State will finish the season with 32 victories, two short of the program record set in the 2010-11 season, giving Dutcher and his team a nice starting point heading into the fall as the Aztecs look to make a return to the championship game.
