On April 3 , Brad Stevens and the Butler Bulldogs faced off with Michigan State in the national semi @-@ finals . Michigan State took an early 14 – 7 lead , and Matt Howard got in early foul trouble , sitting most the first half . Stevens kept the team focused with a " next man up " attitude and the game was tied at 28 at halftime . The second half was dominated by tight defense for both sides . With 2 : 45 to go in the game , the score was 47 – 44 Butler . Michigan State called a time out to set up a play . Stevens correctly anticipated the play call and had Ronald Nored , the team 's best defender , switch onto Korie Lucious off a screen . Nored stole the ball and Shawn Vanzant got fouled on the resulting run out , hitting 1 of 2 . Trailing 50 – 49 with under 30 seconds remaining , Michigan State came up empty and was forced to foul . Nored hit both foul shots , giving Butler a 52 – 49 lead . After a Michigan State time out , Stevens had his team foul Lucious with 2 seconds remaining to prevent a potentially game tying 3 @-@ pointer . After making the first , Lucious intentionally missed the second free throw . Hayward came down with the rebound to seal the victory . Butler became the first team since the shot clock was adopted for the 1985 – 86 season to hold five straight tournament opponents under 60 points .