Defending champ UConn returns to NCAA title game, beating Alabama 86-72

UConn kept its bid to repeat as national champion intact by surviving its first true test of the NCAA Tournament, getting 21 points from freshman Stephon Castle while clamping down defensively in the second half of an 86-72 win over Alabama in the Final Four on Saturday night.

The top-seeded Huskies (36-3) had put on a March Madness show before arriving in the desert, a stretch that included a 30-0 run in a decimation of Illinois in the Elite Eight.

This was more of a slow burn, with UConn withstanding an early wave of 3-pointers before holding the Crimson Tide (25-12) without a field goal during a five-minute second-half stretch.