Opponent: North Carolina (No. 1 Seed - South Region)
Specifics: Friday, March 24 |  7:09 p.m. ET  |  FedExForum  |  Memphis, Tenn.
TV: CBS  |  Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill & Tracy Wolfson
Radio: 107.5 FM  |  Mark Minner (play-by-play) & Nick Gardner (analyst)
Follow Along: @ButlerMBB

Full Notes (PDF)

WALKING IN MEMPHIS: Butler, the No. 4 seed in the South Region, continues NCAA Tournament play with a Sweet 16 match-up in Memphis against No. 1 seed North Carolina. The tip is set for 7:09 p.m. (Eastern) Friday and will air nationally on CBS. The Bulldogs have a record of 25-8. North Carolina is 29-7.
 
This is Butler's sixth Sweet 16 appearance (2011, 2010, 2007, 2003, and 1962).
 
FRONT-RUNNING: Butler has not trailed in this year's NCAA Tournament, posting wins over Winthrop and Middle Tennessee State. The games were tied for only a combined 1:18 of game action.
 
AGAINST NO. 1 SEEDS: This will be the seventh time that Butler has faced off with a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs are 2-4 in previous match-ups, defeating Syracuse in 2010 and Pittsburgh in 2011. In each of those seasons, Butler advanced to the national championship game. The Bulldogs lost to top seeds in 2016 (Virginia in the second round), 2010 (Duke in the national championship game), 2007 (Florida in the Sweet 16) and 2003 (Oklahoma in the Sweet 16).
 
AGAINST THE TAR HEELS: Butler owns a 3-2 advantage in the all-time series with North Carolina. Butler has won the previous two match-ups, both on neutral courts. Butler won, 74-66, in the 2014 Battle 4 Atlantis, and 82-71, in the 2012 Maui Invitational. The teams first played on Jan. 1, 1929 in Indianapolis (Butler won, 43-20) and then played a home-and-home series during the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons (both UNC wins). Coach Chris Holtmann is 1-1 against UNC with the win coming in 2014. His Gardner-Webb team lost to UNC to open the 2012-13 season, Holtmann's third and final season leading Gardner-Webb.
 
In the 2014 win over North Carolina, (then freshman) Kelan Martin had 17 points in 17 minutes. That was Martin's fourth collegiate game and the 17 points tied for his second-best output that season. Andrew Chrabascz (seven points, six rebounds) and Tyler Wideman (four points, four rebounds) also played in that game.
 
SHOTS FIRED: The Bulldogs are shooting 50 percent (48-96) in their two NCAA Tournament games. Of the eight players who have taken a shot in tournament play, seven of them are shooting 50 percent or better. Butler shot 51 percent against Middle Tennessee State in the second round. Butler out-shot its opponent in both games. When shooting a better percentage than its opponent, Butler is 20-0 this season and 55-2 under head coach Chris Holtmann.
 
Butler has shot 50 percent or better from the field 13 times this season. The Bulldogs are 12-1 in those games.
 
BEHIND THE ARC: Behind a 53-percent performance in Saturday's win over Middle Tennessee, the Bulldogs are shooting 47 percent (16-34) from three-point range in NCAA Tournament play. Half of those makes belong to graduate student Avery Woodson, who is 8-of-14 in the two games, including six against Winthrop in the first round that tied his career-high.
 
COMING UP CLUTCH: Thirteen of Andrew Chrabascz's 15 points came in the second half of Butler's win over Middle Tennessee State. Chrabascz made five of his eight attempts after the intermission, including a three-pointer with 3:25 to play that ended a 9-0 MTSU run and pushed the three-point lead back to six.
 
Woodson returns to the FedExForum, where he played for Memphis the past two seasons before graduating and coming to Butler. He shot 70-of-185 from three-point range at FedExForum, a 38-percent clip.
 
STRONG START: Butler's second-round game against Middle Tennessee State was the 100^th game as head coach at Butler for Chris Holtmann. He is off to an impressive 70-30 mark through his first 100 games. Holtmann's 70 wins are already seventh on Butler's career list. The top three names on that list: Tony Hinkle (560), current Butler VP/Director of Athletics Barry Collier (196), and Brad Stevens (166).
 
TOP DAWGS: The Bulldogs have put together arguably the most impressive regular season in program history, which was validated with a No. 4 seed by the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee, the best in Butler history. Butler was the No. 13 overall seed in the committee's 1-68 rankings, making Butler the highest-ranked of the four No. 4 seeds. Butler's previous high seed was a No. 5 seed in both 2007 and 2010.
 
Holtmann and Brad Stevens are the only two coaches in Butler history to lead their teams to the NCAA Tournament in each of their first three seasons on the Butler sidelines.
 
HANDING 'EM OUT: Senior Tyler Lewis had eight assists against Winthrop, which was just one off Butler's NCAA Tournament high of nine (Mike Monserez vs. Louisville, 2003). The eight helpers were also one shy of Lewis's season-high of nine against St. John's Feb. 15.
 
The Bulldogs are 15-3 this season when Lewis has four or more assists. That includes both of Butler's NCAA Tournament games so far. His assist/turnover ratio of 4.03 is third in the country.
 
ON THE GLASS: The Bulldogs are now 16-2 on the season when pulling down more caroms than their opponent, as they did in the first round. Butler out-rebounded Winthrop, 42-27. The +15 rebounding mark tied Butler's highest advantage of the season (40-25 vs. St. John's Feb. 15).
 
TIGHT GRIP: On the season, the Bulldogs are averaging only 10.2 turnovers per game. That mark is ninth nationally. Butler had a season-low four turnovers – including none in the second half – against Marquette Jan. 16. The Bulldogs have posted 10 or fewer miscues in 16 games this season and are 13-3 in those games, including the team's second round game with Middle Tennessee State.
 
LEADING THE WAY: Junior Kelan Martin has led the team in scoring in five of the team's last six games. In four of those games (and eight times this season), Martin has led the Bulldogs in both scoring and rebounding. On the season, Martin has led the team in scoring 15 times and has pulled down the team's most rebounds on 16 occasions (including both NCAA Tournament games). He has 10 20-point games on the season.
 
FRESH APPROACH: Freshman Kamar Baldwin has 57 steals so far this season, a mark that is eighth on Butler's single-season list. He has seven games of swiping three or more steals. Baldwin's 331 points this season are eighth all-time for a Butler freshman. He had a career-high four assists in the second round win over MTSU.
 
WINNING THE FIRST ONE: The Bulldogs are now 10-1 in their last 11 first round contests in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs' most recent first round loss came in 2009.
 
Butler is 10-0 in NCAA Tournament play as the better-seeded team, including both NCAA Tournament games this season.
 
OFF THE BENCH: In BIG EAST play, Butler's bench out-scored the opponent's reserves by a combined score of 514-255, which is a 14.4-point advantage on average per game. Butler's bench out-scored the opponent's in 16 of its 18 BIG EAST games this season.
 
Butler had a 28-9 bench advantage in the first-round win over Winthrop. The Bulldogs had 30 points off the bench against Middle Tennessee State in the second round, but MTSU's reserves accounted for 33 points.
 
MAGIC NUMBER: Butler is now 33-1 under Chris Holtmann when scoring 80 or more points, including a 12-1 mark this season.
 
That firepower was put on display this season as Butler overcame an 18-point deficit in the win over Marquette Jan. 16 and a 20-point deficit in the following game, a 70-69 overtime win at DePaul Jan. 21.
 
ON THE DEFENSIVE: Butler is 19-1 when its opponent scores less than 70 points, and the Bulldogs are 6-7 on the season when their opponent scores 70 or more. The Bulldogs held Winthrop to 64 points and Middle Tennessee State to 65.
 
PLAYING THE FIELD: Butler's season-long resume includes a 14-5 regular season record against the 12 teams that made the 2017 tournament field. The Bulldogs played NCAA Tournament teams in 19 of their 31 games this season, including non-conference wins over Arizona, Cincinnati, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Vermont, and Bucknell.
 
THAT'S GOOD COMPETITION: Entering the NCAA Tournament, Butler was 16-5 against teams ranked in the NCAA RPI Top 100, with nine of those wins coming against the Top 50 (not counting a win over No. 51 Northwestern). Those nine wins against the RPI Top 50 trailed only Duke (13), Villanova (12), North Carolina (11), and Florida State (11). Baylor also had nine wins.
 
The Bulldogs went 2-0 this season against the NCAA Tournament's overall No. 1 seed and defending national champion Villanova. Butler handed the Wildcats two of their four losses this season.
 
SEVEN OF TEN: The BIG EAST had 70 percent of its membership make the 2017 NCAA Tournament field as Butler joined Villanova, Creighton, Seton Hall, Providence, Marquette, and Xavier. The BIG EAST was tied with the Big Ten at seven bids, trailing only the nine from the ACC. However, no conference matched the BIG EAST's 70 percent placement rate.
 
HOT STREAK: Butler has been in the field for nine of the last 11 NCAA Tournaments, only missing out in 2012 and 2014. This is Butler's 15^th NCAA Tournament appearance and the Bulldogs now have a 23-14 all-time mark in tournament play. After appearing in the 1962 NCAA Tournament, 14 of the appearances have come in the last 21 years.
 
'BIGLY' EAST PERFORMANCE: Butler's 12-6 BIG EAST record placed the Bulldogs solely in second place in the conference standings. The mark ties the 2014-15 team (Chris Holtmann's first season as head coach) as Butler's best record since joining the BIG EAST for the 2013-14 season. The 2014-15 team tied for second in the standings but entered the BIG EAST Tournament as the No. 3 seed.
 
INDIVIDUAL HONORS: A trio of Bulldogs earned All-BIG EAST honors as announced by the BIG EAST Conference March 5. The league's 10 head coaches made the selections. Senior forward Andrew Chrabascz was selected to the first team, while junior forward Kelan Martin earned second-team honors. Kamar Baldwin was a unanimous selection to the conference's All-Freshman Team.
 
HOLT-ING HIS OWN: Butler's Chris Holtmann was named BIG EAST Coach of the Year on March 8. The 10 BIG EAST coaches voted for the Coach of the Year. Holtmann, while at Gardner-Webb, was selected as the 2013 Big South Conference Coach of the Year. In his first season at Butler, Holtmann was selected as a finalist for both the Naismith and Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Awards. The last Butler coach to earn conference Coach of the Year honors was Brad Stevens, who was selected for the Horizon League accolades in 2010.
 
EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS: BIG EAST coaches picked Butler to finish sixth in the league's preseason poll this season. The Bulldogs finished second in the league standings. It is reminiscent of Chris Holtmann's first season as head coach at Butler (2014-15) when the league's coaches picked Butler to tie for seventh and the Bulldogs instead finished in a tie for second place.
 
THE WIN AT VILLANOVA: Butler's win snapped a 48-game winning streak for the Wildcats at The Pavilion, one that dates back to 2013. No. 2 Villanova also serves as Butler's highest-ranked true road win in program history, besting a win at No. 10 Wisconsin during the 2000-01 season.
 
Butler has three wins in program history against teams ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the AP Poll. Two of the three wins have come this season (both over Villanova), joining a 2012 Crossroads Classic victory over Indiana.
 
SEEING 20/20: Butler is 25-8 overall, posting its 11th 20-win season in the last 12 years. The Bulldogs are one of only 18 programs that have posted at least 11 20-win seasons during that stretch. The Bulldogs have posted 20 or more wins on 22 occasions. Eighteen of those 20-win seasons have come since 1996-97.