HOUSTON — Only a few months before the euphoria of the shot that halted Florida Atlantic's improbable run and sent San Diego State to the national title game, Lamont Butler experienced a moment of spirit-crushing devastation.
NCAA Basketball: Final Four National Semifinals-Florida Atlantic vs San Diego State
One moment, San Diego State had a seemingly insurmountable four-point lead over the nation’s ninth-ranked team at the Maui Invitational. Then Butler committed an inadvertent foul and a costly turnover in the span of six seconds to fuel a last-gasp Arkansas comeback. While teammates and coaches wrapped their arms around Butler and assured him that they did not blame him, it was a message from his father that eventually snapped the junior guard out of his depression. Lamont Sr. told his son that he can’t let six seconds define who he is. Later in the season, the family even had T-shirts printed bearing the slogan.seconds will.
Butler said he was “a little shocked” when the shot when in, that it didn’t immediately “sink in” what he had done. That wasn’t the case for his teammates who charged around the NRG Stadium court, jumped on each other’s backs and lifted Butler in the air.
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