Mr. Saturday Night

Lamont Butler's buzzer-beater caps an incredible rally and game for San Diego State. A look at the final seconds, plus why UConn's been so dominant. (Hint: Rhymes with pogo)

Author

Mike Miller
April 02, 2023

Saturday's Final Four games went just as expected, right? UConn rolled with Adama Sanogo hitting 3s and Nahiem Alleyne taking the second-most shots, while San Diego State's vaunted 3-point defense allowed FAU to shoot better than 40 percent from deep — and still won.

Let's dive into a pretty spectacular Saturday night in Houston.

1. What did we just witness?

New rule: Whenever someone frets about the lack of big names or marquee matchups in the Final Four, you just say two acronyms: SDSU-FAU.

San Diego State's 72-71 win over Florida Atlantic had everything a Final Four game should have: Dynamic playmakers. A mix of offensive and defensive swings. A rally from a seemingly impossible deficit. Star-turns from individuals. A little controversy. And, of course, a memorable finish with a true buzzer-beater.

I'll get to to that in a moment. First, the history:

Those two in the same game? That's more than a little ridiculous.

The Aztecs weren't the only one making history Saturday night.

UConn handled Miami, 72-59, becoming the sixth team to reach the national title game after winning every game by double-digits. Only one of those six (2016 UNC) didn't win it all.

That dominance is such that we'll have 48 hours of people wondering how San Diego State can possibly have a chance on Monday night, which is probably fair. But we'll tackle most of that in Monday's Daily. For now, we'll hit on SDSU's remarkable finish, then more on the Huskies.

2. Anatomy of a buzzer-beater

There are two types of buzzer-beaters in March Madness. The kind that live forever because of their impact (the winning team goes onto win it all, or it's a unique standout play), and the ones that are awesome, but fade away because it was just part of the tournament.

All of which is to say, Lamont Butler's game-winner against FAU was incredible. It's got all the pieces: Just enough time to create intense drama, good defense that nearly forced him into a turnover, and picture-perfect form and finish.

It's the kind you can just watch again and again, at least until Monday when it's ultimate place in NCAA Tournament lore is settled.

Until then, let's break it down piece by piece. With 17.7 seconds left, FAU called its second consecutive timeout, nursing a 1-point lead. In San Diego State's huddle, coach Brian Dutcher told his team, in the words of Matt Bradley, “We’re going to get a stop, we’re going to push it and we’re going to win the game.”

Prophetic words.

17.5 seconds remaining: Bryan Greenlee inbounds to Alijah Martin, who pivots once, then dribble hands-off to Johnell Davis, FAU's leading scorer this season. However, Davis was one of the few Owls who struggled to score on Saturday night, finishing 2-of-9 from the field.

13.8 seconds: Davis, guarded by Aguek Arop, takes one dribble, hesitates, then shimmies and gets past Arop's left hand all the way to the rim, something FAU's guards had done with ease all night. Finding the gaps in the Aztec defense had opened scoring opportunities throughout the game because of crisp ball movement against any defensive rotations.

9.8 seconds: Arop recovers just enough to force Davis to rush his layup, which bounces off the backboard and misses the rim. Nathan Mensah corrals the rebounds, looks left, then finds Lamont Butler on the right side.

7.6 seconds: Butler catches the ball in stride, but FAU's defense already has four players back on defense, preventing any rush to the rim.

“[Coach Dutcher] told me to go downhill, get something at the rim," Butler said afterward. “I knew I would get a shot, but I thought it would be a layup."

4.9 seconds: Nick Boyd picks up Butler at the 3-point line. Butler gets low. Micah Parrish is trailing him, but is directly behind Butler, who doesn't appear to see him. Parrish has already hit two 3-pointers, and looks ready to square up. Greenlee hedges toward Parrish, keeping the ball in Butler's hands.

3.3 seconds: Butler drives to the right baseline, and is met by Boyd. He looks for a teammate, but most of his angles are cut off.

"We felt like [Butler] lost the ball," said FAU assistant coach Todd Abernethy. "My first naked eye thought was he wasn't gonna get it off in time."

1.9 seconds: Butler dribbles between his legs — nearly stepping out of bounds in the process — cuts to his left and creates some separation between him and Boyd.

"From the cutoff, it was a one-dribble pull-up," Butler said. "I went left one dribble, kind of sold it like I was going to drive and just pulled up.

"It felt good as soon as it left my hand."

.9 seconds: Butler rises up, and Boyd tries to contest. But Butler gets a clean look.

0.0 seconds: Swish.

He joins a list of rare Final Four buzzer-beaters. Just six players have hit them in the national semifinals, yet only half of those teams went onto win it all. Maybe that's why Butler wasn't fully processing it afterward.

"I don't think anything is going to sink in until it's all over with," he said.

Do yourself a favor and listen to the final call from multiple play-by-play guys. It's the only way to live.

3. Alijah Martin's big night, and a word on the refs

Without Butler's shot, FAU-SDSU was shaping up as the Alijah Martin game. The sophomore guard was superb Saturday night, scoring a game-high 26 points on 7-of-13 from the field, along with seven rebounds.

He set the tone throughout for FAU's aggressive offensive attack. The Owls (35-4) had no trouble getting into the gaps of SDSU's defense, something few teams have done all season, let alone during the tournament. They'd simply move the ball until they had a mismatch, then drive and finish at the rim, or kick out for a 3-pointer.

And Martin was the best of them, especially in the second half. He was 4-of-6 from the field and scored 19 of his 26 in the second half. His driving layup with 47 seconds remaining looked like it would provide enough cushion for the win, but, we know how that ended.

So what turned the tide? Two things: San Diego State's defense started getting stops (hold that thought) and finally grabbed some offensive rebounds.

During one crucial two-minute stretch from just under 7 minutes to 4:34, the Aztecs (32-6) had eight offensive boards, including two off missed free throws. When Bradley corralled the last of those rebounds and fed the ball to Arop for a jumper, it tied for the game for the first time since midway through the first half.

Those defensive stops didn't come without a few questions, though. SDSU's typical defense includes lots of hand-checking on the perimeter (ask Creighton), which wasn't called most of the second half. And the called foul on Vladislav Goldin on an attempted Arop dunk? Well ... there's no denying that was a bad call.

But it's a topic better served with a conversation and different points of view, so I'll turn to the AFTER DARK crew for the rest.

4. What can't Adama Sanogo do?

UConn's dominance doesn't come from one player. The Huskies (30-8) regularly play nine players and overwhelm opponents with their positional depth, elite size, and aggressive defense.

But man ... this is going to go down as the Adama Sanogo team.

The junior forward was all-world Saturday night, scoring a game-high 21 points (his third game with 20 or more points in the Big Dance), grabbing six rebounds and adding a couple of blocks. For good measure, he was even 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.

When your 6-foot-9, 245-pound power forward can stretch a defense and dominate inside, what's an opponent supposed to do? Even more impressive? He's doing this during Ramadan, meaning he's fasting from sunrise to sundown. He didn't eat on Saturday until 7:41 pm CT, when he drank some coconut water, then ate a bit in the locker room.

“He crushed a bunch of oranges,” trainer James Doran told the New Haven Register. “He crushed some watermelon. When Coach was getting ready to talk, he was crushing food.”

Sanogo crushed everything Saturday night. So did the Huskies.

They held Miami (29-8) to just 32.3% from the field, and just .92 points per possession, the second-most inefficient scoring night the Canes have had all season. UConn also dominated the boards, grabbing 41% of their misses.

About the only thing it didn't do well was limit turnovers. It had 15 on the night, or one nearly every four possessions. Usually that'll derail a team. Instead, UConn just moved on.

5. The UConn hot take: They're lucky (and good)

Was this done just to goad Rob Dauster? Maybe. Was it partly because Greg Waddell's a little frosty about a bet not coming through? For sure.

But it's still worth listening to: UConn's been great during the NCAA Tournament — but it hasn't been challenged by a great team yet.

In the end, it's a lame argument because nobody remembers the path a champion had. It ultimately doesn't matter if they beat nothing but double-digit seeds, or all the best teams in front of them (hat tip: 1997 Arizona).

And it certainly won't matter if UConn's run continues like this on Monday. It'll just be remembered as a dominant run en route to a fifth title.

Links as you count the number of "The Butler did it" headlines this morning.

Does San Diego State have a chance?

Sounds like the AFTER DARK crew is ready to dump all their money on UConn when Monday night rolls around. After seeing what the Huskies did to Miami, it makes sense. But it sure seems like a time when Aztec fans will want to keep these receipts.

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