Too talented, too big, too deep: UConn ends Purdue's joyful run with a title-game victory

And it wasn't terribly close.

MY COUCH, Ind. – They just kept coming, these UConn Huskies. They kept coming and coming with NBA talent, with physical pressure, with size and skill and moxie. And that, in the end of this Purdue redemption quest that didn’t result in the ultimate payoff, was the bottom line in the national title game between college basketball’s two powerhouses, UConn and Purdue.

UConn, 75-60.

Too good, too deep, too big, too physical.

Matt Painter put it in harsh perspective after the game in Glendale, Ariz.

“We play against somebody, they would have a lock-down defender,” said Painter, who introduced himself and his program to the national audience during this title-game run. “These guys are bringing lock-down defenders off the bench…”

The game was accurately built up as a battle of the big men, two-time National Player of the Year Zach Edey and UConn’s 7-foot-2-inch Donovan Clingan, and both men played well; Edey, in particular, finished with 37 hard-won points.

He needed 50. Or more.