Lamont Butler made a jumper at the buzzer, sending San Diego State to their first national championship game with a 72-71 win over fellow mid-major Florida Atlantic in the Final Four on Saturday night.
“It’s unbelievable,” Butler said. “This is what I came here to do. I’m glad the shot went in. I’m just happy for my team right now.”
The Aztecs (32-6) appeared to be in trouble as the free-flowing Owls (35-4) picked them apart while building a 14-point lead.
San Diego State got back in it, as they always do, with defense.
The Aztecs shut down FAU and pulled within one when Jaedon LeDee hit a short jumper with 36 seconds left. After FAU’s Johnell Davis missed a contested layup, the Aztecs didn’t call timeout and got the ball to Butler.
LAMONT BUTLER WINS IT AT THE BUZZER 😱
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 2, 2023
THE AZTECS ARE #NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP BOUND 🔥#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/2sqxu5g05j
The clock ticking down, Butler dribbled to the baseline, found that cut off and circled back. He stepped back to create a little room and hit a jumper that sent the Aztecs racing out onto the floor – and into Monday’s championship game against UConn, who won 72-59 over Miami in Saturday’s nightcap.
“The plan was just to get downhill,” Butler said. “They cut me off a little bit. I looked up, there was two seconds left, so I got to a shot that I’m comfortable with. And I hit it.”
San Diego State’s defense has played a key role in their run to the final. They clamped down on four straight opponents to open the NCAA tournament.
The Aztecs had no answer for the swaggy Owls in the first half, allowing them to hit five of 11 from three-point range to build a 40-33 halftime lead.
FAU stretched the lead to 14 midway through the second half.
Then the Aztecs got gritty.
Contesting nearly every shot and pass while pulling down a string of offensive rebounds, San Diego State rallied into a tie at 65. Matt Bradley led the offense in the second half and finished with 21 points after struggling with his shot in the previous three games.
Alijah Martin kept FAU in it, scoring 19 of his 26 points in the second half, seeming to have an answer for every Aztecs move.
He didn’t get a chance for a final one.
In the second game at Houston’s NRG Stadium, UConn doled out another drama-free basketball beatdown, getting 21 points and 10 rebounds from Adama Sanogo to dispatch Miami 72-59 and move one win from the school’s fifth national title.
Jordan Hawkins overcame his stomach bug and scored 13 for the Huskies, who came into this most unexpected Final Four as the only team with any experience on college basketball’s final weekend and with the best seeding of the four teams in Houston – at No 4.
Against fifth-seeded Miami, they were the best team on the court from beginning to end. Starting with three straight threes – one jumper from Hawkins and two set shots from Sanogo – UConn took a quick 9-0 lead and never trailed.
This one was more of the same from the Huskies (30-8). The double-digit victory over Miami was UConn’s closest win in five tournament games.
Isaiah Wong led the ’Canes with 15 points on 4-for-10 shooting. Harassed constantly by Sanogo, 7ft 2in Donovan Clingan and the rest of Connecticut’s long-armed, rangy perimeter players, Miami, which came in with the nation’s fifth-best offense, shot 25% in the first half and 33.3% for the game.
