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Connecticut defeats Butler to win NCAA title

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-04-05 16:38

HOUSTON - Connecticut overcame a sub-par performance by All-America guard Kemba Walker with an inspired second-half rally to defeat Butler 53-41 on Monday and win the NCAA basketball tournament for the third time.

Connecticut Huskies guard Kemba Walker holds up the NCAA trophy with his teammates after they defeated the Butler Bulldogs in the men's final NCAA Final Four College Championship basketball game in Houston, Texas, April 4, 2011.  [Photo/Agencies]

Connecticut (32-9) broke the game open when Jeremy Lamb scored 11 points during a 22-3 run that turned a six-point deficit into a 41-28 lead with less than six minutes to play.

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Walker, the Huskies' leading scorer with an average of 23.7 points per game, finished with a team-high 16 points on five of 19 shooting from the floor and missed all four of his three-point attempts.

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said the game was a defensive dogfight, a "thing of beauty" from a purist's standpoint.

"You'd like a few more baskets made, certainly," he said. "But it was two teams that weren't going to give in to each other and finally our superiority took over.

"But, damn, I loved it in the sense of the fight and competitiveness, between the two teams."

Butler (28-10) hit only 12 of 64 shots (18.8 percent) to lose in the national championship game for the second consecutive year.

"Without question, 41 points, 12 of 64, is not good enough to win any game, let alone the national championship game," said Butler coach Brad Stevens.

"We guarded as well as we could. We gambled a little bit late because we had to, because we were just trying to figure out something to generate, a turn of the tide.

"And we just couldn't."

Blocked bulldogs

The Bulldogs' two best players, Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard, shot a combined five for 28, dooming Butler's chances of pulling off an upset of the Big East tournament champions.

"They're a great team, great defensive team," said Mack, who his just four of 15 shots. "They did a great job of contesting every shot. They just weren't falling today."

Mack hit a 23-foot, three-pointer at the first-half buzzer to give Butler a 22-19 lead, the lowest combined point total in the opening 20 minutes since 1945.

The Bulldogs shot 22 percent in the opening half but had the advantage by virtue of hitting five three-pointers, while Connecticut missed all five of their shots from beyond the arc.

Butler's lead evaporated during their second-half dry spell and with it went their chances of a first national title.

"Our inside game was a little bit too much for them," said Connecticut's Walker, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. "They had a tough time shooting the ball. We blocked a couple shots.

"We did a great job at just keeping them to one shot. There wasn't many offensive rebounds for those guys."

Butler, a liberal arts school in Indianapolis with 4,200 students, lost the championship game to Duke last year 61-59 when a game-winning shot caromed off the rim at the buzzer.

The Bulldogs lost their best player from a year ago, Gordon Hayward, to the NBA and were widely believed to have little chance of repeating last year's success.

They started the season slowly but closed on a roll, winning 14 in a row before losing to Connecticut .

"We couldn't put the ball in the hole," said Butler center Andrew Smith, who connected on just two of nine shots.

"If you don't score too many points, you're not going to win too many games. Unfortunately, we were the team that couldn't score."