Butler Beats Michigan State, Will Play in NCAA Title Game

INDIANAPOLIS — After 25 years, Hoosiers
could use an update.

One more win, and Butler will have the perfect
script.

Gordon Hayward had 19 points and nine rebounds,
including one with two seconds left that sealed the game. The small
school looked anything but, taking down another of college basketball’s
biggest names with a 52-50 victory over Michigan State in the Final Four
on Saturday. Butler (33-4) now plays the winner of West Virginia-Duke
in Monday night’s title game.

In its hometown, no less.

Hollywood couldn’t write this any better.

“We’ve been talking about the next game all
year, and it’s great to be able to say the next game’s for a national
championship,” Hayward said.

Michigan State (28-9) has been living on the
edge all tournament, ravaged by injuries and squeaking from game to
game, and this night was no different. After trailing by as much as
seven in the second half, Draymond Green made a pair of free throws to
pull Michigan State within 50-49 with 56 seconds left.

Ronald Nored missed a jumper, and Michigan
State got the rebound. But Hayward wouldn’t give the driving Green an
inch, forcing him to put up an awkward layup that didn’t come close.
Nored scooped up the rebound, and Green had no choice but to foul him,
pushing the big fella out of the game.

Nored made both, and the Bulldogs had a 52-49
lead with 6 seconds to play.

After a timeout, the Spartans inbounded the
ball and Butler was all over them, choosing to foul rather than take a
chance on the Spartans getting of a 3 — like they did to beat Maryland
at the buzzer. Korie Lucious made the first and bricked the second.
Hayward came up with the ball to seal the victory and set off a party
the likes of which Indiana hasn’t seen since tiny Milan beat Muncie
Central for the state title in 1954, the real-life inspiration for
“Hoosiers.”

Although the Bulldogs are no plucky underdog,
there’s no doubting the connections between “Hoosiers” and Butler’s
magical run. In the movie, the final score was 42-40. The actual Milan
final score — 32-30.

And Saturday night, 52-50.

And watching it all unfold was Bobby Plump,
whose buzzer-beating jumper gave Milan the win.

“Both sides really battled,” said Butler coach
Brad Stevens, who has waited all of three years to play for his first
national title. “We were lucky to be up two at the end.”

Luck had nothing to do with it. More like
good, old fundamentals and pesky defense.

It certainly wasn’t the prettiest of finishes —
Butler went almost 11 minutes without a field goal after Willie
Veasley’s layup with 12:19 left — and it almost seemed like the first
team to score a basket was going to win. But the Bulldogs weren’t
flustered to be playing on the game’s biggest stage and locked down
whenever they had to.

Durrell Summers, who had averaged 20 points in
Michigan State’s first four tournament games, was held to 14. Green had
12 as did Lucious, who was playing in place of injured point guard —
and leading scorer — Kalin Lucas. Senior Raymar Morgan, who spent most
of the game in foul trouble, finished with just four points.

The finish was a bitter disappointment for the
Spartans, who had hoped to get back to the national title game after
being routed by North Carolina in Detroit last year. Instead, they’ll
have to watch another group of local boys delight the hometown fans.

“We didn’t get it done,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “I thought
the physical play bothered us — that surprised me.”

Butler is the 11th team to play a Final Four
in their homestate. Nobody has won it at home since UCLA in 1975, when
the Final Four was down the road from Westwood in San Diego.

But the Bulldogs are on a wonderful ride, and
they’ve got what seems like the entire Hoosier state on their side. When
Hayward came up with that final rebound, Lucas Oil Stadium shook, the
kind of celebration usually reserved for Peyton Manning.

With a baby face, Hayward easily could be
mistaken for Jimmy Chitwood. But this kid could play on any team, big or
small. He can shoot inside, outside, and he’s not afraid to do the
dirty work, leading Butler with nine rebounds.

And if not for his and Shelvin Mack‘s play in
the first half, the Bulldogs would be heading back to their dorm rooms
instead of a downtown hotel.

Hayward scored Butler’s first four field
goals, and he and Mack were the only Bulldogs to make anything from the
field in the first half. Willie Veasley? He was 0-for-2. Nored? Didn’t even get
off a shot.

Mustached Matt Howard? He took a seat six minutes into the
game after getting whistled for his second foul.

Yet the Bulldogs managed to hang with the
Spartans, going into halftime tied at 28 after Mack’s 3 with 35 seconds
left.

The rest of the Bulldogs got in on the scoring
fun at the start of the second half. Howard, Avery Jukes and Veasley
all scored during an 8-4 run that gave Butler a 44-37 lead with 12:19 to
play. It was the largest deficit Michigan State had faced this
tournament — and it didn’t help that Raymar Morgan picked up his fourth
foul during the spurt.

But the Bulldogs didn’t make another field
goal until Hayward’s layup with less than two minutes to play. No matter,
they just cracked down on defense, showing the rough-and-tumble Spartans
they’re not the only ones who can get physical.

“I don’t know if I got a piece of the ball,
maybe a piece of his arm,” Hayward said of grabbing that game-sealing
rebound. “I’m just glad we got that last stop.”