Five years removed from their last national championship, the Connecticut Huskies (32-6) defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (28-10), 82-73, Monday night in San Antonio to win the 2004 men's basketball National Championship.
Behind the dominating performance of junior center Emeka Okafor, the Huskies controlled nearly the entire 40 minutes of the contest, relinquishing the lead for a mere 1:06 in the first half. Okafor finished the game with 24 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks while tallying his 24th double-double of the season and also being named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player.
Entering halftime with a 15-point edge, Head Coach Jim Calhoun's \posse"" built as much as a 25-point lead in the second half behind the deadly inside-outside combo of Okafor and junior guard Ben Gordon. The best one-two punch in the country contributed 45 points in the game and combined with sophomore guard Rashad Anderson's 21 points, the trio alone was too much to handle for the Yellow Jackets in their first-ever trip to the national championship game.
The Huskies are the first team since the 1996 Kentucky Wildcats to win the national championship after being ranked number one in the preseason polls.
