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March Madness: Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, and more react to UConn's win over San Diego State

Players, coaches, fans, and family celebrated hard after UConn beat SDSU. Some hugged, some cheered, and others destroyed property.

Liz Roscher
Staff writer
·4 min read
9

The Dance has concluded, and UConn has emerged victorious. After a dominant run at the NCAA men's tournament, UConn held the trophy aloft after a decisive 76-59 win over San Diego State.

When that buzzer finally sounded after the clock ran out, there was mayhem on the court. Confetti fell as the players hugged, jumped, yelled and celebrated their hearts out.

The fan reaction to the win ranged from happy and calm to unhinged and possibly illegal, which is pretty much what you'd expect from any college fan base, especially one that's isolated in the upper right corner of Connecticut.

Athletes celebrate, congratulate

The eyes of the sports world were on UConn-SDSU on Monday night. UConn women's basketball player Paige Bueckers, currently recovering from a torn ACL, celebrated with a bunch of her teammates.

Angel Reese, who is fresh off a NCAA women's tournament win with LSU, had a reason to celebrate UConn's victory: her cousin, Jordan Hawkins, plays for the Huskies.

Kemba Walker, who led UConn to the 2011 national championship, was at the game and ultra hyped to see his alma mater take home the trophy.

Other UConn alums like Renee Montgomery and Dan Orlovsky were also over the moon.

A family affair

The game was truly a family affair in more ways than one. There's the UConn family, which was out in full force to support the 2022-2023 team. Former players were everywhere, and Hurley made sure to personally thank all of them for what they've done for the program through the years.

And then there's the Hurley family itself. Dan is far from the only coach, with his father Bob, a storied high school basketball coach, and his brother Bobby, the current coach at Arizona and a former Duke star. They were all there, and constantly looked so proud of Dan.

Dan's son Andrew is on the UConn team, and coach had him dribble out the clock as the game ended.