Sophomore guard Korie Lucious crouches into a defensive position as Butler guard Ronald Nored takes the ball up the court in the second half of the national semifinal game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Butler defeated MSU 52-50 and will advance to the national championship game Monday.
Indianapolis — There were two sounds you couldn’t hear enough of Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium: the clang of the rim and high-pitched screech of the official’s whistle.
But when push came to shove in the final seconds, the Spartans didn’t hear the sound they wanted.
A physical driving layup attempt in the final seconds by sophomore forward Draymond Green fell short and the Butler Bulldogs held on to defeat MSU, 52-50, in the national semifinals and advance to the national championship on Monday.
“I thought we played with some of the most bizarre lineups we played with all year, and yet we put ourselves in a position where, I thought at the end we had a chance to take a shot and win a game,” MSU men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo said. “I thought we did everything in our power to do that. I felt like, I guess, I questioned some of the way that last shot went.”
The Spartans trailed by one in the final seconds when Green drove to the basket. There was a lot of contact but no foul called. Butler guard Ronald Nored grabbed the rebound, was immediately fouled and hit two free throws. Green finished with 12 points and six rebounds.
With two seconds remaining, sophomore guard Korie Lucious missed the second of two free throws on purpose but Butler forward Gordon Hayward grabbed the rebound, clinching the victory. Hayward led the Bulldogs with 19 points and nine rebounds.
Monday’s national championship will be Butler’s first appearance in the final game.
“We might not have believed it when we said it, in our first team meeting in the fall, but if we focus and do our jobs, then why can’t we play for a national championship?” Butler head coach Brad Stevens said. “That’s been our focus all along.”
In the Spartans’ losses this season, turnovers often reared their ugly head. MSU turned the ball over 16 times Saturday night, compared to eight for Butler. The Bulldogs outscored MSU off turnovers 20-2.
“They play great defense, they’re just a real scrappy team,” said junior guard Chris Allen, who finished with zero points or no field goal attempts in 16 minutes.
“You put the ball anywhere out in front of them and they were swiping for the ball. The refs, I don’t want to say they were calling bad calls, but it wasn’t fair.”
The Spartans began the game with efficient shooting as they took a 28-23 lead with 2:46 to play in the first half. But the Bulldogs scored five points to end the half and send the teams into the locker room tied at 28. Hayward and Butler guard Shelvin Mack scored 25 of the Bulldogs’ 28 first-half points.
Part of the reason for the Spartans’ turnover troubles might have been the lineups Izzo was forced to play. Because of foul trouble, several players were called upon to play quality minutes, such as sophomore guard Austin Thornton and junior guard Mike Kebler, who played 12 and seven minutes, respectively.
“It’s unfortunate how everything happened because some of the lineups in the game, sometimes we never had in practice,” Allen said. “Guys didn’t know what other guys would do. We were just out of sync a lot because of the fouls and stuff like that.”
MSU had 21 points at the 9:48 mark of the first half. They scored 29 the rest of the game. MSU was led by junior guard Durrell Summers, who scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to earn the fifth double-double in MSU Final Four history.
After surrendering the lead early in the second half, the Spartans only gave up four field goals in the final 17:41 and just one in the final 12:17. But MSU scored only four field goals in the final 12 minutes.
“We held them, but we weren’t converting like we thought we could,” Green said. “We were putting them at the free-throw line way too much and that’s pretty much the game right there. They were knocking them down and we weren’t.”
The Spartans went 10-for-18 from the free-throw line, including 5-for-12 in the second half. Butler went 17-for-24 for the game. The Spartans had 21 team fouls while Butler had 17, which led to a sloppy and slow-paced game.
Senior forward Raymar Morgan had a forgettable final game as a Spartan. After picking up two fouls in the first five minutes, he picked up a quick third due to confusion from the officials. Morgan finished with four points and five rebounds in 23 minutes.
“It’s disappointing, but my teammates did a great job in trying to pick me up,” Morgan said.
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The Spartans won the battles in rebounding (36-32) and points in the paint (18-16), but Izzo felt his team was out-toughed, something not often associated with MSU teams.
“Next year, those practices, if anybody here tells me about football pads or anything else, you can stick it,” Izzo told the media. “Don’t be questioning me about toughness things next year. There’s going to be fistfights in my practices because we’ll never get out-toughed like we did tonight.”
