UConn Will Continue To Dominate Against Purdue

Purdue vs. UConn vs. 9:20 ET

March Madness came to an end yesterday as South Carolina beat Iowa for the National Championship. But wait! There's more! In every other year of its existence, today's game would be the main attraction, but thanks to Caitlin Clark yesterday's game was the one that garnered the attention. Monday night will belong to the guys, though as we see Purdue look to take down UConn and stop them from getting a second consecutive National Title. Let's take a look at how we should play this matchup. 

If you want to look at the parallels between today's game and yesterday's game, Purdue is Iowa. Purdue has one superstar and a lot of very good role players. Zach Edey, the big man that everyone is familiar with, is still going to be a handful for any team to deal with at this level, just like Clark. The path to this game for the Boilermakers wasn't easy, but they didn't make it look very tough either. Only one of their games was decided by fewer than 10 points. Edey has led the team in points and rebounds for each game. Over the five tournament games, Edey has poured in 140 points and 77 rebounds, good for a 28 and 15 average. They had a strong gameplan for the North Carolina State Wolfpack in the Final Four and held them to just 50 points, stopping their run. Only one of the Wolfpack starters even scored in double figures. It took DJ Horne 21 shots to score 20 points. That is the kind of defensive effort they will need in order to prevent UConn from winning. The guards of Purdue try to fly around the court and pressure their opponent, but there are times where they end up giving open shots. Against Tennessee, Dalton Knecht was able to rack up points. I wouldn't say that UConn has an individual offensive talent like Knecht, but they do have a good balance that could cause problems for Purdue. 

Purdue Boilermakers C Zach Edey shoots a baby hook vs. the Tennessee Volunteers during the 2024 NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional Championship at Little Caesars Arena in Michigan. (Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports)

If Purdue is Iowa, that would make UConn the South Carolina in this matchup. UConn has seemingly toyed with opponents in this tournament. It is like they come out in the first half and see what their opponent wants to do. Then in the second half they just rip their opponent's heart out and destroy their opponent. It happened again in the game against Alabama where they went into halftime winning by four points, and then outscored Alabama by 10 points in the second-half. Mark Sears, of Alabama, still had a solid game, and even Grant Nelson played well, but Alabama couldn't stop anyone. Why do I bring this up? Because UConn will need to play better defense if they want to win this game. They allowed Alabama to shoot 45% from the floor and 48% from deep. If Purdue does that, UConn might find themselves trailing in the second half for the first time in the tournament. Stopping Purdue obviously begins with focusing on Edey. That matchup is probably the most intriguing as Donovan Clingan will draw that responsibility. He is a talented and a good defender. His athleticism might give him a good shot to stop Edey. UConn has a balanced roster that all plays defense and can contribute offensively. 

I've said it for a while now, UConn is going to win the championship. Purdue might give them a good game, but I don't think their talent is good enough to keep up with UConn for the whole game. To their credit, Purdue has proved me wrong about their game against North Carolina State and some other matchups in the tournament, but I don't see it happening here. UConn won't let Edey beat them, unless Clingan gets into foul trouble and they have no answer for him, UConn will win with ease. I will take UConn to cover the -7.5 in this one. I also think the under is a good look if you want to play the total. 

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