UConn mens basketball defeats Alabama, earns date with Purdue in the championship [Video]

PHOENIX, AZ (WFSB) – For the second straight season, the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team finds itself in familiar territory: The NCAA Championship game.

Top-seeded UConn defeated the fourth-seeded University of Alabama in the Final Four on Saturday night in Phoenix.

The final score was 86-72.

The Huskies now have a date with Purdue for the national championship on Monday night. If UConn repeats, it’ll be the first time a team has done it since Florida did it in 2006 and 2007.

Tip off against Alabama happened at 8:49 p.m.

Donovan Clingan opened the game with a block.

UConn scored a couple of buckets and some free throws to put themselves up 7-3 about 2 minutes into the game.

At the first media timeout, UConn led 13-8 following a Cam Spencer 3 pointer. At that point, Stephon Castle had a game-high 8 points.

When Clingan went to the bench, the Crimson Tide attacked the paint. They tied the game with 13:20 to go in the half.

Alabama took the lead …