ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Someone rewrote the ending to Duke's dream season.
A 32-game winning streak along with a place in college basketball history came to a stunning end last night in Tropicana Field.
Khalid El-Amin scored four points in the final 66 seconds and Connecticut stopped Trajan Langdon twice in the last six as the Huskies held on, 77-74, to win their first national championship in the closest title game since 1989.
"Give UConn all the credit in the world," Elton Brand said. "It was kind of like a bad dream, unbelievable, to get so close and then come up short."
The Huskies led 73-72 with 1:06 left when El-Amin drove down the left baseline and hit a 10-footer to give Connecticut a three-point lead. Will Avery was subsequently fouled out top with 54 seconds left and sank both free throws to bring Duke back within one.
On their next possession, the Huskies called a timeout with 34 seconds left and the shot clock down to 16. They immediately looked for El-Amin, who missed from the left wing with 25 seconds left.
Chris Carrawell rebounded and, rather than take a timeout, Duke gave the ball to Langdon, who had already scored 25 points. The senior dribbled the ball out top for a few seconds, drove the left wing, shuffled into the paint and was called for traveling at :05.4 before he put up a shot.
"I just wanted to make a move," Langdon said. "I've been in that situation a ton of times. I wasn't thinking about the clock. I made a move; I might have traveled, I might not have.
"That's the call. That's the way the game goes."
After a Duke timeout, Avery fouled El-Amin with 5.2 seconds left. The UConn sophomore sank both free throws to push the margin back up to three.
The Blue Devils had one last chance but chose not to call a timeout. Langdon took the inbounds pass, dribbled
"First of all, I just wanted to get the ball in bounds," Langdon said. "I ended up getting it. Obviously, it was going toward the baseline when I got it. They did a good job following me toward the sideline. There were three people there; I got tripped a little bit. But I tried to get a shot off and it was stripped."
As the Blue Devils slowly walked off the court, Connecticut celebrated the first national championship in its program's history.
"You really can't describe it," said Richard Hamilton, the Final Four Most Outstanding Player. "I think I still don't understand the things that we did and what we accomplished tonight. You know, I think it will probably sink in maybe a week from now, two weeks from now.
"But right now, we are just happy to put a smile on [coach Jim Calhoun's] face, all the fans in Connecticut."
The last minute was set up by an overall uncharacteristic Duke effort. The Blue Devils shot a season-low 41 percent from the field while the Huskies connected on 53 percent of their shots.
Elton Brand pulled down 13 rebounds, but the Blue Devils were still pounded on the glass, 41-31.
"You've just got to tip your hat to them," Carrawell said. "They exposed us, played really good defense and stopped us on offense."
Duke's offensive struggles extended to everyone except Langdon. The captain kept the Blue Devils in the game on numerous possessions. Early in the second half, he hit a 17-footer from the right wing and a three from the left side as Duke built a 46-41 lead.
But Connecticut answered every time Duke tried to pull away. The Huskies never trailed after taking a 53-51 lead when Hamilton scored two of his game-high 27 points on a pullup over Langdon in the right corner. Duke tied the game twice, at 66 and 68, but couldn't regain the advantage.
A Hamilton three gave the Huskies a 73-68 lead with 3:38 left and Connecticut looked in control. Langdon, however, knocked down a three-pointer of his own at 1:43 off a crucial offensive rebound by Battier, and Duke was within one, 73-72.
At that point, the stage was set as Connecticut held on in a memorable final sequence.
"Tonight [was] one of the greatest basketball games I've ever been involved in," Calhoun said. "As of this moment, we're the best team in the country. We have as much if not more character than any team I've ever been associated with. We had the will to win."
Duke, on the other hand, was faced with a loss it never thought possible.
"I felt like all the emotion was drained out of me," Battier said of his feeling while walking off the court. "It was like I was standing in a twilight zone. Time stood still, and I had to walk off the court."
Notes: Joining Hamilton on the all-Final Four team were Langdon, Brand, El-Amin and Ricky Moore. Moore scored all 13 of his points in the first half to keep Connecticut close.... The three-point margin was the closest since Michigan beat Seton Hall 80-79 in 1989.... Duke's final record of 37-2 is still the best in school history by winning percentage. It ties the 1986 team for the most wins and matches the 1992 squad for the fewest losses. The Blue Devils finished 2-3 in title games this decade, winning in 1991 and 1992 and losing in 1990, 1994 and 1999.... Langdon became the sixth player in championship game history to hit at least five three-pointers.... Duke's shooting percentage of .411 just eclipsed a .414 effort in the regular-season finale against North Carolina for the team's worst of the year.
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