San Diego State’s Lamont Butler almost stepped out of bounds earlier than buzzer-beater
San Diego State’s dream run in March Insanity 2023 was inches away from coming to an finish Saturday night time.
As an alternative, Lamont Butler’s footwork helped ebook the Aztecs a spot within the championship sport towards UConn.
Butler nailed a buzzer-beating pull-up jumper to safe San Diego State’s 72-71 win over Florida Atlantic within the Remaining 4, however a better have a look at the replay of the now iconic shot reveals simply how shut it was to not counting.
After the Aztecs secured a cease and rebound whereas trailing 71-70 with beneath 10 seconds remaining, head coach Brian Dutcher opted to not use a timeout to forestall the Owls’ protection from with the ability to set themselves up — regardless of Dutcher having a extra defensively minded lineup on the courtroom.
That included Butler, whose protection is his predominant power.
After Nathan Mensah grabbed the defensive rebound, he shortly handed to Butler.
Butler took 9 dribbles earlier than uncorking his game-winner.
He initially tried to drive to the rim alongside the baseline on the proper aspect of the courtroom, however was lower off by defender Nick Boyd.
As Butler then planted his proper foot to alter instructions into his pull-up jumper, he got here dangerously near stepping out of bounds.
On replay, viewers can see hardly a sliver of courtroom seen separating Butler’s proper foot and the out-of-bounds line.
However that sliver of courtroom, no matter how large or small, is all that issues, and has San Diego State in its first nationwide championship sport in program historical past.
“A bit shocked,” Butler stated after the sport. “I didn’t actually know, I imply, how large it was. We’re going to the nationwide championship.
“That’s not [something] many individuals do… It feels wonderful. It’s simply laborious to place into phrases.”
It was the primary true buzzer-beater within the males’s NCAA Match since Jalen Suggs banked in a deep 3-pointer to carry Gonzaga previous UCLA within the Remaining 4 two years in the past.
Dutcher stated after the sport that he informed his staff he wouldn’t name a timeout for the ultimate possession, and that he thought of having his staff foul however as a substitute trusted his aspect to safe the consequential cease.
His staff subsequently proved him proper.
“Lamont made the shot,” Dutcher stated after the sport. “I at all times say March is for gamers, not coaches. Lamont made a play, and made an outdated coach look good.”
Butler completed with 9 factors on 3-for-6 capturing together with footwork that can now go down in historical past.