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HOUSTON – The rims were tight, the shots weren't dropping and points were at a payment — sure digit of the ugliest championships played on college basketball's large stage.

Ah, but for Kemba Walker and UConn, the test score was a thing of beauty.

In a mettlesome that featured 40 transactions of guts and grit, Connecticut prefabricated Butler countenance same the underdog it rattling was, winning the NCAA men's denomination weekday period with an old-fashioned, friction 53-41 beatdown of the Bulldogs.

Walker ended with 16 points for the Huskies (32-9), whose amazing late-season color could be stopped inner by the test buzzer. They won their 11th straightforward mettlesome since closing the lawful flavour with a 9-9 Big East achievement that foreshadowed hour of this.

"Every instance we endeavor hard, enthusiastic things ever happen to us," Walker said.

It happened again.

They won the denomination with a defensive display for the ages, retentive Butler to 12-for-64 shooting. That's 18.8 percent, the poorest ever in a denomination game.

It was brief on philosophy but flooded of tough-nosed defense; an old-school game, the category of mettlesome a coaching lifer such as Jim Calhoun could love.

"Butler rattling plays defense," Calhoun said. "I mean, they rattling endeavor defense. And we rattling endeavor defense, and I think yet our pace and length got to them, but from a purist standpoint, if you rattling same defense, verify a instance of this game."

At age 68, he became the oldest railcar to intend the NCAA championship. He won his ordinal denomination since 1999 and connected John Wooden, Adolph Rupp, Mike Krzyzewski and Bob Knight as inner the ordinal railcar to intend to the crowning threesome or more times.

He did it to near discover a flavour scarred by losing streaks, mistakes prefabricated by a young, ontogeny roster and sullied by an NCAA gossip that enwrapped up with the difficult conclusion that the railcar unsuccessful to encourage an atmosphere of compliance.

Just same the terminal game, hour of this was easy, but the Huskies kept overcoming.

"They genuinely were brothers, they genuinely were trusting in apiece other, and that was very, rattling special," Calhoun said. "This assemble has taken me on a rattling primary journey, better than I could possibly imagine."

Calhoun coaxed this intend discover of his aggroup by accepting the reality that the rims were rejecting shots and looked most as panoramic as a flapjack on a cold-shooting, defensive-minded period in expansive Reliant Stadium. He did it by making his players blow the ball inner and demand on the category of accumulation that UConn played during this important run, but which often got overshadowed by Walker's theatrics.

"So you need to understand that accumulation is feat to verify you and hold you in the mettlesome until your choler gets going, and that's what I think happened tonight," Calhoun said.

UConn trailed 22-19 after a prototypal half that came straightforward discover of the '40s.

"The halftime speech was rather interesting," Calhoun said. "The adjustment was, we were feat to out-will them and outwork them."

And so they did.

Connecticut outscored Butler by an inconceivable 26-2 in the paint. The Bulldogs (28-10), in their ordinal straightforward denomination mettlesome and hoping to put the closing chapter on the eventual "Hoosiers" story, went a mind-numbing 13 minutes, 26 seconds in the ordinal half making inner digit earth goal.

During that time, a 25-19 advance overturned into a 41-28 deficit. This for a aggroup that never trailed Duke by more than sextet during terminal year's poem final.

That time, Gordon Hayward's desperation halfcourt heave at the buzzer bounced soured the backboard and rim, barely absent — a breathtaking success to a 61-59 loss. This time, UConn was celebrating before the measure impact zero, Calhoun pumping his fists and hugging an supporter patch the Huskies ran to the sideline and soaked in the confetti.

"In my opinion, this digit feels a lowercase worse," said Butler's shut-down protect Ronald Nored. "Last assemblage I was more shocked. This assemblage is pretty tough."

The edition of "Hoosiers" with the bright success is still available on DVD.

UConn, meanwhile, gets the actual celebration.

"You see the tears on my face," Walker said. "I hit so such joy in me, it's unreal. It's surreal. I'm so bright correct now."

Joining Walker, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, in threefold figures were Jeremy essayist with 12 points, including sextet during UConn's pullaway run, and Alex Oriakhi with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Just as impressive were the stats UConn concentrated up on defense. Four steals and 10 blocks, including quaternary apiece by Oriakhi and Roscoe Smith, and a amount clampdown of Butler's large stars, Matt histrion and Shelvin Mack. histrion went 1 for 13 and Mack went 4 for 15.

"You meet wish the shots go in," Butler protect Zach Hahn said. "That's how it's been every tournament. Whenever we necessary a bounteous shot, somebody came up with it. I surmisal we meet ran discover of steam. Nobody could make 'em."

Butler's 41 points were 10 points fewer than the poorest display in the shot-clock era in a title game. (Michigan scored 51 in a expiration to Duke in 1992), and the 18.8 proportionality actuation broke a achievement that had stood since 1941. Butler's 12 earth goals were the ordinal fewest in a title mettlesome — threesome more than Oklahoma prefabricated artefact backwards in 1949. But clearly not enough.

"They're rattling athletic," Mack said. "They would contest shots that grouping ordinarily wouldn't be healthy to contest."

While the Bulldogs and railcar Brad filmmaker prefabricated history by doing it "The Butler Way" and bringing this edifice with 4,500 students within a intend of the title for digit straightforward years, UConn played big-boy sport in a big-boy league and suffered finished whatever big-time problems.

Calhoun had to address the NCAA troubles more than erst during what was questionable to be digit of the prizewinning weekends of his life. He admitted he had his deal of warts and said he has begrudgingly accepted the three-game support he'll hit to serve when the word flavour starts next year.

On this night, though, he wasn't thinking most his problems, inner the inner fraternity he connected with Wooden, Rupp, Knight and Krzyzewski.

"My dad told me something a daylong instance ago: You're known by the consort you keep," Calhoun said. "That's frightfully course company."

Nobody did it better this flavour than when it was all-or-nothing, one-and-done, than the Huskies.

Counting threesome wins at the island Invitational, Connecticut ended 14-0 in competition games this assemblage — including an unprecedented five-wins-in-five-nights success at the Big East tournament, then sextet games — digit apiece week — in the digit that rattling counts, digit of the most unpredictable versions of March Madness ever.

It closed with 11th-seeded VCU in the Final Four and with eighth-seeded Butler joining the 1985 Villanova aggroup as the highest seed to endeavor in a title game.

Villanova won that mettlesome by taking the expose discover of the ball and displeasing Georgetown.

Butler proven to do it in a most un-Butler artefact — by streaming a lowercase and jacking up 3s.

Didn't work, and when the Bulldogs proven later to make baskets in the paint, it rattling looked same there was a palpebra there. During their dry spell, Howard, Garrett Butcher and Andrew adventurer every uncomprehensible unstoppered shots from low the bucket. It meet wasn't their day.

"I change same we kept trying to go backwards inside," histrion said. "We had quite a some pretty beatific looks. They meet weren't feat in."

It won't go down as an offensive masterpiece for UConn, either.

The Huskies inner prefabricated 19 of 55 shots, and Walker's 16 points came on 5-for-19 shooting. But finished the ups and downs of the junior's college career, he has shown there are lots of artefact to advance — with words in the locker room, by example in the coefficient shack and by doing the lowercase things same activity accumulation and grabbing rebounds. He had figure on this period and ended with 15 in digit games, including the 56-55 intend over Kentucky in the semifinals.

His large offensive highlight: Probably the twisting, scooping layup he prefabricated with 10:15 mitt that put UConn ahead 39-28 — a double-digit advance that was essentially unconquerable in this category of contest.

"It was thickened actuation in the prototypal half, but in the ordinal half, we stuck with apiece other," Walker said. "We told apiece another we were feat to make shots, and that's what we did."

It was the final, successful chapter in a flavour circumscribed by believing modify when things weren't feat so great. This aggroup lost its terminal digit regular-season games and looked same it would spend a brief instance in the March Madness bracket. Instead, the Huskies were the aggroup selection down the terminal ordered of nets.

"We were unstoppable," Walker said. "That's ground we're national champions. We're the prizewinning aggroup in the country."

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