Butler’s buzzer-beater sends San Diego State to title game

HOUSTON — San Diego State’s vaunted defense staggered well into the second half as free-flowing Florida Atlantic breezed to a 14-point lead.

The Aztecs found their teeth again to get back into the game. Then Lamont Butler delivered at the very end.

Butler hit a buzzer-beating jumper for the ages, sending San Diego State to its first national championship game with a 72-71 win over fellow mid-major Florida Atlantic in the Final Four on Saturday night.

“I didn’t really know how big it was,” Butler said after his calm reaction to one of the greatest shots in NCAA Tournament history. “We’re going to the national championship. That’s not things many people do.”

A diabolical defense had pushed San Diego State (32-6) all the way to the final stop for the NCAA tourney. The Aztecs bumped and harassed opponents all season to create the first all-mid-major national semifinal since VCU and Butler in 2011.

The swaggy Owls (35-4) seemed to have solved San Diego State’s vaunted defense, using constant movement and ball reversals to create mismatches they could exploit.

San Diego State found its defensive mojo midway through the second half, clamping down on the Owls while whittling their lead down to one on Jaedon LeDee’s short jumper with 36 seconds left.

When FAU’s Johnell Davis missed a contested layup, San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher opted to not call timeout, joking that he didn’t have any plays left.

All he had to do was get the ball to Butler.

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 had San Diego Padres fans going wild at Petco Park.

Butler’s winning buzzer-beater was the first for the Final Four since Jalen Suggs for Gonzaga against UCLA in 2021 and No. 5 overall. But it is the only one of the five when the winning team was trailing at the time of the shot.

Next up for the Mountain West’s first Final Four team is a chance to win the conference’s first national title Monday night against UConn.

“We’ve always been knocked down,” said San Diego State’s Matt Bradley, who had 21 points after struggling in the previous three games. “But the biggest thing we always do is get back up and keep fighting.”

San Diego State had been building toward this since coach Brian Dutcher took over for his longtime mentor Steve Fisher. Dutcher followed the mold Fisher had created, adding an extra dose of nasty to the defense.

The Aztecs lost an opportunity when they were in position for a No. 1 seed in the 2020 NCAA Tournament, only to have it wiped out by the pandemic.

San Diego State followed a pair of NCAA Tournament first-round flameouts with a solid 2023 season, winning 27 games to earn a No. 5 seed in the East Region in this year’s bracket.

Once the NCAA Tournament started, the Aztecs ramped up their defense even more, holding their first four opponents to an average of 57 points per game and 17% shooting from the 3-point arc.

FAU found an answer through quick ball movement, with the occasional dump into the post to keep the Aztecs honest.

The result: The Owls led 40-33 at halftime after hitting 5 of 11 from 3-point range against a defense that held its previous two NCAA Tournament opponents to 5-of-44 shooting from the arc.

FAU kept making shots, stretching 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, including six in 59 seconds, San Diego State rallied to tie it at 65-all.

“They went on a run, getting extra possessions,” said FAU’s Nick Boyd, who hit three early 3s and finished with 12 points. “That was really the turning point of the game.”

FAU kept San Diego State at bay most of the second half thanks to Alijah Martin, who seemed to have an answer for every Aztecs move by scoring 19 of his 26 points in the second half.

He hit a reverse layup with 45 seconds left to put FAU up 71-68, but wasn’t enough to prevent the Owls’ improbable run from coming to an end.

“These guys have created memories and a legacy that will last a lifetime,” FAU coach Dusty May.

So did the Aztecs — with one more chance to add to it.

UCONN 72, MIAMI 59: UConn doled out another drama-free basketball beatdown Saturday, getting 21 points and 10 rebounds from Adama Sanogo to dispatch Miami 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 3s — one jumper from Hawkins and two set shots from Sanogo — UConn took a quick 9-0 lead and never trailed.

On Monday in the title game, the Huskies will face San Diego State, which became the first team to hit a buzzer-beater while trailing in a Final Four game for a victory over Florida Atlantic.

That was an all-timer. This one — more of the same from the Huskies (30-8). The double-digit victory over Miami was UConn’s closest win in five tournament games.

Some thought Miami (29-8), with four players who have scored 20 points at least three times this season, might be the team to challenge the Huskies. It was not to be.

Isaiah Wong led the ’Canes with 15 points on 4-for-10 shooting. Harassed constantly by Sanogo, 7-foot-2 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.

UConn had its own sort of buzzer-beater. It was a 3 from Alex Karaban that sent the Huskies and coach Dan Hurley jogging into the locker room with a 13-point halftime lead.

The Huskies built it to 20 before the first TV timeout of the second half. By then, Jim Nantz, calling his last Final Four, could start saving his voice for Monday.

Miami did get it under double digits a few times, but this never got interesting. Not helping: Hurricanes guard Nijel Pack missed about 5 minutes after managers had trouble locating a substitute for a malfunctioning shoe. Pack finished with eight in this one, and Jordan Miller, who hit all 20 shots he took from the floor and the line in Miami’s Elite Eight win, went 4 for 10 for 11 points. Only one Miami player made more than half his shots.

UConn had five blocks, including two from Sanogo, and 19 assists, led by eight from Tristen Newton — both signs of the sort of all-around effort the Huskies have been putting in since the start of February, after a six-loss-in-eight-games stretch halted their momentum.

That cold stretch is a big reason they were seeded only fourth for March. Now it’s April and the number UConn is thinking about is “5” — as in a fifth title that will come if it can keep this up for one more game.