Houston, TX (Sports Network) – From the depths of the valley mired by NCAA inquiry to the top of the college basketball world, Connecticut took Butler’s best punch but stood tall to win its third national championship, 53-41.
Jeremy Lamb scored all 12 of his points in the second half, Kemba Walker led the way with 16 points and nine rebounds, and Alex Oriakhi posted a double- double of 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Huskies (32-9), who won five games in five days to take the Big East tournament in New York then rattled off six in a row to give Jim Calhoun his third national championship, putting him in an exclusive club with John Wooden, Adolph Rupp, Bob Knight and Mike Krzyzewski as the only head coaches with three or more national titles
Shelvin Mack scored 13 points with nine rebounds and Chase Stigall, who made just 1-of-13 three-pointers until Monday night, made three treys for nine points. Butler (28-10) shot a championship-worst 18.8 percent from the floor and lost in the title game for the second straight season.