The National Championship game was between Butler , a mid-major university team that was a surprise finalist in the 2010 tournament , and Connecticut , a basketball powerhouse which had previously won the tournament twice under coach Jim Calhoun but had an average regular season finishing 9th in the Big East Conference before winning The Big East Tournament with five wins in five consecutive days ( never before accomplished in NCAA history ) . The championship game was won by Connecticut 53 – 41 . It was a very defensive contest , with Butler having the fewest points in a championship game since 1949 . Butler led at halftime 22 – 19 , but suffered in the second half from poor shooting , making only 6 of 37 shots in the second half . Butler 's 18.8 percent shooting for the entire game was the lowest ever in the NCAA final . Connecticut contributed to Butler 's poor shooting by blocking 10 shots ( a championship game record ) . Butler was led in scoring by junior guard Shelvin Mack with 13 points , while UConn freshman Jeremy Lamb scored 12 points in the 2nd half
Big East Conference
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
2011 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament