ON TOP AT HOME
Horizon’s Butler ousts Big Ten’s Michigan State
Associated Press
Indianapolis
After 25 years, “Hoosiers” is getting a rewrite.
One more win, and plucky Butler will give it an even better ending.
Gordon Hayward had 19 points and nine rebounds, including one with 2 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 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, ending the big fella’s game.
Nored, who had been just 3 for 12 from the line in the tournament, made both, and the Bulldogs, champions of the Horizon League, 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 off a 3 — like they did to beat Maryland at the buzzer.
Korie Lucious made the first and bricked the second as 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.”
“I don’t know if I got a piece of the ball, maybe a piece of his arm,” Hayward said. “I’m just glad we got that last stop.”
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, extending the nation’s best winning streak to 25 — and counting.
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 2 at the end.”
Luck had nothing to do with it. Butler knocked off top-seeded Syracuse and followed with a victory over No. 2 seed Kansas State last weekend, the only Final Four team to beat the top two seeded teams in its region.
And just as Stevens did against the Orange and Wildcats, he found Michigan State’s weakness and went after it. The offense-by-committee that had worked well enough without injured Kalin Lucas, who led the Spartans in scoring until blowing out his left Achilles’ tendon in the second-round victory over Maryland, fell apart against the Bulldogs.
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 Lucas. Senior Raymar Morgan, who spent most of the game in foul trouble, finished with just four points.
Butler also forced fellow No. 5 seed Michigan State into 16 turnovers and held the Spartans to zero — yes, zero — fast-break points. The Bulldogs outrebounded Michigan State on the offensive glass, 11 to 8.