"The halftime speech was rather interesting," said Calhoun, who has been known to use his loud voice and some salty language to get his point across to his team. "We knew we could really defend them. ... The major adjustment was we were going to out-will them and outwork them, and eventually we outplayed them."

The Huskies answered their coach's demands by holding Butler to 16.2 percent shooting in the second half of their 53-41 victory Monday night that made Calhoun just the fifth coach to win three national titles.

The Bulldogs shot a Final Four-record low 18.8 percent from the field (12 of 64). The 12 field goals were the second-fewest ever in a championship game.

It wasn't as if the Huskies were lighting up the scoreboard themselves. They shot 34.5 percent for the game (19 of 55) but made 10 of 24 shots in the second half (41.7 percent).

"Sometimes shots don't go in, and that's basketball," Butler coach Brad Stevens said. "But I don't want to just say shots didn't go in, because UConn had a lot to do with it. ... Great teams give themselves a chance to win even when they're not shooting well, as UConn did."

Continue Reading...