UConn was undoubtedly the most dominant team of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The No. 4 seed Huskies continued their impressive streak of double-digit victories by taking down No. 5 seed San Diego State 76-59 Monday night in Houston.

Two key stretches show why UConn is leaving the Lone Star State with its 5th national title since 1999.

The biggest storyline of the first half was a field-goal drought of over 11 minutes for San Diego State. The drought turned SDSU’s early 10-6 lead at the 16:32 mark into a UConn lead that reached 36-20 at the 3:19 mark.

The Huskies were scoreless over the final 3 minutes and change, allowing the Aztecs to cut it to a 12-point difference of 36-24 at the half.

SDSU put up an impressive fight in the second half, chipping away. The Aztecs got it down to 5 points (60-55) with 5:19 to go. From there, though, UConn successfully closed it out. San Diego State made just 1 of its last 9 field-goal attempts, missing its final 4 shots from the floor.

At the 3:41 mark, UConn was able to get it back to 10 points at 65-55 with a pair of free throws from Tristen Newton. SDSU was out of rallies, as UConn kept it from getting back to single digits the rest of the way until the final buzzer.

SDSU held UConn to just 34.8 shooting from the floor in the 2nd half, but it wasn’t enough to tie or take the lead. The Huskies were 21-of-23 at the free-throw line in the second period. For the game, UConn finished shooting 43% from the floor after making 50% of its 1st-half field goal attempts.

Newton led the Huskies with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds. Adama Sanogo also had a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Newton and Sanogo each scored 10 points in the 2nd half. Jordan Hawkins added 9 2nd-half points.

The Huskies recorded 13 assists to SDSU’s 7. Andre Jackson Jr. had 6 of UConn’s assists.