The 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game was the finals of the

2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2009– ...

and determined the National Champion for the 2009-10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The game was played on April 5, 2010, at

Lucas Oil Stadium Lucas Oil Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in downtown Indianapolis, downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It replaced the RCA Dome as the home field of the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). It opened on August ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, and featured the South Regional Champion, #1 seeded

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

, and the West Regional Champion, #5 seeded

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...

. This was the fifth national championship game to be played between two private universities, and the first since the 1985 national title game between Georgetown and Villanova, won by Villanova, 66–64. The other three besides 1985 and 2010 were in

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

, and

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

Participants

Butler Bulldogs

Butler entered the tournament as the #5 seed in the West Regional. In the 1st round, Shelvin Mack made seven three-pointers to lead Butler to a 77–59 victory over

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the University of Texas Syste ...

. In the 2nd round, Butler used late free throws from Ronald Nored and

Matt Howard Matt Howard (born January 23, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League. Previously, he played college basketball with the Butler Bulldogs. He helped lead the ...

to beat Murray State 54–52 and advance to the Sweet 16. In the Sweet 16, Butler upset top-seeded

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

with a 63–59 win to advance to the West Regional Final, their 1st regional final appearance in team history. In the Elite Eight, Butler would upset

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

beating them 63–56 to advance to the Final Four, their 1st appearance in team history. In the Final Four, Butler beat

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

with a 52–50 win to advance to their 1st ever national championship game.

Duke Blue Devils

Duke entered the tournament as the #1 seed in the South Regional. In the 1st round, Duke beat

Arkansas-Pine Bluff The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) is a public historically black university in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Founded in 1873, it is the second oldest public college or university in Arkansas. It was one of about 180 "normal schools" estab ...

73–44. In the 2nd round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, Duke beat

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

68–53. In the Sweet 16, Kyle Singler had 24 points and Jon Scheyer had 18 points to beat

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

70–57. In the Elite Eight,

Nolan Smith Nolan Derek Smith (born July 25, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player and assistant coach for Memphis Tigers men's basketball, Memphis. He played college basketball for Duke before being drafted 21st overall by the Portlan ...

scored 29 points to lead Duke to a 78–71 victory over Baylor to advance to the Final Four. In the 2010 Final Four, Duke beat

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

78–57 to advance to the national championship game, their first since

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Starting lineups

Game summary

1st Half

got Duke off to a hot start scoring four points in the 1st two and a half minutes to give Duke an early 6–1 lead. Shelvin Mack got Butler back into the game making two three-pointers in the next 3 minutes to give Butler a 12–11 lead. Shelvin Mack kept Butler going as Butler would have a 20–18 lead at the under-8 TV Timeout. Then, Jon Scheyer would score four points in the next three minutes leading Duke to an 8–0 run giving them a 26–20 lead and Butler would call a 30-second timeout. During the next 70 seconds, Avery Jukes would score five points leading Butler to a 7–0 run which would result in a 27–26 Butler lead. While Jukes scored five points in the final two and a half minutes of the 1st half, Jon Scheyer scored four in that same time frame and Duke would lead 33–32 at halftime.

2nd Half

During the 1st seven minutes of the 2nd half, neither team took a lead larger than 2 while Duke would have a 45–43 lead when they called a 30-second timeout. Then, Brian Zoubek would make a basket to give Duke a 47–43 lead. In the next 35 seconds,

Gordon Hayward Gordon Daniel Hayward (born March 23, 1990) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Utah Jazz, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, and Oklahoma City Thunder. ...

made two free throws to cut the Duke lead to 49–47. In the next minute, Jon Scheyer scored five points to give Duke a 56–51 lead. During the next 35 seconds after Butler called a 30-second timeout,

and

each made a pair of free throws to cut the Duke lead to 56-55 and Duke would call a 30-second timeout. Then, Kyle Singler made a basket to give Duke a 58–55 lead, and Butler would call a 30-second timeout. With 3:16 remaining,

made a pair of free throws to give Duke a 60–55 lead. Within the next minute after 1:50 was remaining in the game,

scored four points to cut the Duke lead to 60–59. With 3 seconds left, Brian Zoubek made one of two free throws to give Duke a two-point lead.

narrowly missed a buzzer-beating half-court shot which would have won the game for Butler and it resulted in a 61–59 win for Duke and the national championship.

References

{{2010 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball navbox NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game NCAA Division I men's basketball championship games Butler Bulldogs men's basketball Duke Blue Devils men's basketball College basketball tournaments in Indiana Basketball competitions in Indianapolis NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game 2010s in Indianapolis