HOUSTON -- Dogged determination. Pun intended.
Butler’s Bulldogs dug in, hung tough and outlasted Virginia Commonwealth, 70-62, Saturday night in Reliant Stadium. The national semifinal win pushed the Horizon League champions into the title game of the NCAA tournament for the second straight year.
It bears repeating. Butler is playing for the national championship for the second straight year.
By doing so, the Horizon League becomes the first non-BCS league to be represented in the national championship game in successive years since the Missouri Valley Conference (Cincinnati) in 1961-62.
The Bulldogs (28-9), who lost 62-60 to Duke a year ago, will play Connecticut Monday night.
“We’ve just got to be one shot better than last year,” said Butler’s 34-year-old coach Brad Stevens. “That’s the bottom line.”
VCU (28-12), out of the Colonial Athletic Association, did not go without fight. The 11th-seeded Rams led by eight points in the first half and battled back from a six-point deficit to take a series of leads in the second. Their big man, Jamie Skeen, was a force both inside and out, scoring 27 points.
But the eighth-seeded Bulldogs, as they have all tournament, showed amazing resiliency. Shelvin Mack (8 of 11 from the field, five of six on three-pointers) hit big shots on his way to 24 points. Matt Howard (17 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals) was vintage Matt Howard, making one critical play after another, none more so than a rebound putback that put Butler up six with 58 seconds. Shawn Vanzant buried a huge three-pointer from the corner as the shot clock was about to expire. And senior Zach Hahn, who had only scored nine points in the previous five tournament games, scored eight points -- two three-pointers and a reverse layup -- in a span of 1:39 in the second half.
“We really held together and part of holding together was guys stepping up and making big plays,” said Stevens.
Butler overwhelmed VCU on the glass, 48-32, with freshman Khyle Marshall pulling down nine. They outscored the Rams, 19-6, on second-chance points. Butler’s guards totaled 22 rebounds.
Nored had six of those rebounds and put the locks on VCU point guard Joey Rodriguez, who missed eight of nine shots.
Butler shot poorly from the field (35.6 percent) but drained 20 of 26 free throws. They dictated the pace of the game, handled VCU’s full-court pressure (just nine turnovers) and limited the Rams to their lowest point total in nine games.
“Tonight we didn’t have our best and Butler had a lot to do with that,” said VCU coach Shaka Smart. “Butler was better and deserved to win.”
So now it’s the championship game for Butler … again.
“It’s a focused locker room,” said Howard. “There’s another game to be played and hopefully, another game to be won.”
ODDS and ENDS -- Butler could be the first national champion to enter the tournament unranked in the national polls since Kansas in 1988 … Eight-seeds are 1-1 all-time in championship games with Villanova winning in 1985 and UCLA losing in 1980 … Stevens is the youngest coach to reach back to back title games … The Horizon League went 3-1 against the Colonial this year … VCU came in wanting to play bombs away from the perimeter, but Butler held them without a trey for an 18-minute stretch. Both teams finished with eight three-pointers … Butler is 24-3 this year with a halftime lead.
Tags: Butler - Men's Basketball · Horizon League - Men's Basketball
