Purdue controlled the opening tip-off and scored the first points of the game on a jump shot by Trey Kaufman-Renn one minute later. The teams traded baskets for several minutes before UConn tied the game at five with a pair of free throws by Tristen Newton; a jumper by Cam Spencer shortly afterwards gave the Huskies their first lead. Field goals by Zach Edey, Donovan Clingan, and Spencer over the next few possessions led to another tie at 11–11 before a three-point shot by Newton put the Huskies ahead by three points. Edey and Hassan Diarra traded baskets, each making two from the floor, leading to a two-point UConn lead with twelve minutes remaining in the half. After a Braden Smith jumper, Diarra scored another three-pointer to return UConn to a three-point lead, though several shots by Edey and Smith put Purdue ahead 23–21 nearing eight minutes to play. UConn answered with five unanswered points from Newton and Clingan. The UConn lead jumped to five points on a layup by Newton and a jumper by Stephon Castle increased it to seven with three and a half minutes remaining. UConn maintained this lead for the remainder of the first half; another field goal by Castle with forty-nine seconds left was the last made shot before halftime. At the break, UConn led 36–30.[1]
UConn began the second half with possession and began the scoring through Newton; after shots by Kaufman-Renn and Castle, UConn's lead held at nine points. At the first TV timeout of the half, the Huskies led 43–34 and they expanded the lead to thirteen points shortly after on two dunks by Samson Johnson. Edey scored the game's next four points, followed by shots made by Spencer and Newton to restore the thirteen-point advantage. A Diarra foul with ten minutes to play gave Smith two free throws, which he made, but Alex Karaban's three-pointer and Diarra's jumper on UConn's next two possessions pushed their lead to sixteen points. At the media timeout with under eight minutes remaining in the game, UConn led by seventeen. Out of the timeout, each team went on a run of four straight points: first Purdue, then UConn, leaving the score 63–46. They traded shots over the next two minutes and UConn pushed the lead to eighteen points with under four minutes to play. Six straight points scored by the Boilermakers narrowed their deficit to thirteen points but two free throws by Newton ended the streak. Edey scored three dunks over the next minute but was unable to cut into the UConn lead due to scores by Clingan and Castle, the last of which made the score 75–60 in favor of the Huskies. This led held for the final forty-five seconds of the game, allowing UConn to claim their second straight national championship.[1]
