Butler Begins Road Stretch At Loyola
CITY TRAVEL: Butler begins a stretch of
four consecutive Horizon League road games when it visits Loyola on
Thursday, Jan. 21. The game, the first of two straight in
Chicago, is scheduled for 7 p.m. (CT, 8 p.m. in Indianapolis) at
Loyola’s Joseph J. Gentile Center and will be televised in
Indianapolis on WNDY-TV. The Bulldogs are coming off
back-to-back homecourt wins over Cleveland State, 64-55, and
Youngstown State, 91-61. The two wins lifted Butler to 14-4
on the season and 7-0 in the Horizon League and kept the #20-ranked
Bulldogs in sole possession of first place in the league
standings. Loyola, boasting the second-best overall record in
the league (12-5), improved to 3-4 in conference games with a 55-50
victory at UIC in its last outing. The Ramblers, who own the
league’s second-best homecourt record with a 7-1 mark, won
the last meeting with Butler, 71-67, last February at Hinkle
Fieldhouse. It was Butler’s only league home loss in
2008-09. Following the game at Loyola, Butler will remain in
Chicago to play UIC on Saturday, Jan. 23, The road stretch will
continue at Green Bay (Jan. 29) and Milwaukee (Jan.
31).
Butler’s current six-game winning streak is the
team’s longest this season.
ROAD TESTED: Butler owns a league-best 5-1
record in true road games this season, including a 2-0 mark in
Horizon League road games. The Bulldogs have won two straight
road games, since suffering their lone road setback at UAB on Dec.
22.
NATIONAL SCENE: Butler climbed to No. 20 in
the ESPN/USA Today national poll following last week’s
victories over Cleveland State and Youngstown State, and the
Bulldogs continue to receive votes in the Associated Press (A.P.)
“Top 25.” The Bulldogs were ranked in both polls
for the first seven weeks of the season and have been ranked in the
ESPN/USA Today poll for 11 straight weeks. Butler has been
ranked in the “Top 25” of the two national polls each
year since 2006-07.
MID-MAJOR WATCH: Butler remains third
behind Northern Iowa and Gonzaga in the CollegeInsider.com
Mid-Major Top 25 this week. The Bulldogs held the top spot in the
CollegeInsider.com prior to their loss at UAB on Dec. 22.
Butler had been ranked first or second in the poll for eight
weeks.
LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs used a
smothering defensive effort and a hot shooting touch to roll past
Youngstown State at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Butler recorded six
steals and forced 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, while
racing out to a 49-26 halftime lead over the visiting
Penguins. The Bulldogs, who shot 60% (15-25) in the first
half including 55% (6-11) from beyond the three-point arc, scored
the first eight points of the game and stretched the lead to
double-figures just over six minutes into the contest. Butler
continued to shoot better than 50% in the second half, while
stretching the lead to 30 points on three different
occasions. Four different players, led by Shelvin Mack with
24, scored in double-figures for the Bulldogs, who won their eighth
straight home game. The 91 points the Bulldogs scored were
the most by a Butler team since a 92-50 win at Cleveland State in
February of
2007.
Butler improved to 7-0 in the Horizon League for the second
straight year and for just the second time in 19 seasons.
QUICK START: Sophomore Shelvin Mack wasted
little time making his presence felt in both of Butler’s home
wins last weekend. The 6-3 guard hit five of seven shots and
scored 11 points in the first half of the Bulldogs’ victory
over Cleveland State. He finished with 15 points, four
rebounds, four assists and three steals. Less than 48 hours
later, Mack connected on eight of 10 shots and scored 22 points in
the first half of Butler’s win over Youngstown State!
He added just two more points in the second half, but still led all
scorers in the game. In the two games, Mack shot 71% (15-21)
from the field and 75% (6-8) from the three-point arc!
Shelvin Mack is second in the league in scoring (16.0) in
league games only.
INSIDE JOB: Junior Matt
Howard didn’t lead the Bulldogs in scoring in either
of its two wins over the weekend, but he certainly was a big
presence in both contests. The 6-8 forward led all players
with eight rebounds in the win over Cleveland State, and he added
six points, one assist, one steal and one blocked shot.
Against Youngstown State, he hit six of nine shots from the floor,
10 of 14 from the free throw line and scored 22 points in 25
minutes of action. It was just his second 20-point scoring
performance of the season. He also led all players in the
game with six rebounds.
FINISHING TOUCH: Butler continued a trend
it started at home in its victory over Milwaukee with strong
second-half shooting performances in each of its last four
wins. The Bulldogs, who hit at a 57.7% (15-26) clip in
the second half of their win over Milwaukee, shot 57.9% (11-19) in
the final 20 minutes at Wright State, 56.5% (13-23) in the second
half and overtime period at Detroit, 61.1% (11-18) in the second
period against Cleveland State and 53.6% (15-28) in the final
stanza against Youngstown State.
Butler is shooting .570 after halftime of its last five
games.
SHARP-SHOOTERS: Butler’s marksmanship
has picked up considerably since the start of Horizon League
play. Butler’s top five scorers in league games are all
shooting better than 50% from the field, and the Bulldogs boast
four of the top eight players in conference games only field goal
shooting. Senior Willie Veasley and sophomore Gordon Hayward
are currently tied for second with .558 field goal percentages in
conference games, while sophomore Shelvin Mack is sixth
(.530). Junior Matt Howard ranks eighth (.512) in the league
games only statistics. And junior Zach Hahn (.552) would rank
fifth, but he doesn’t have enough field goals made to qualify
for league rankings.
The Bulldogs are shooting a league-best .500 in conference
games.
POINTING UP: Junior Matt Howard became the
32nd Butler player to score 1,000 career points with his first
field goal in the Bulldogs’ home victory over Ohio
State. His 22 points against Youngstown State boosted his
career scoring total to 1,092 points, good for 28th place on
Butler’s all-time scoring list. The 6-8 forward trails
Joel Cornette (2002-06) in 27th place on the all-time list by eight
points and Dave Sanders in 26th place by 11 points.
BULLDOG BITS:
•Butler ranks first or second in Horizon League only games in
15 different statistical categories. The Bulldogs lead the
conference games only statistics in scoring offense (76.0), scoring
defense (60.9), scoring margin (+15.1), field goal percentage
(.500), rebounding defense (24.1), assists (14.0), assist/turnover
margin (1.2), offensive rebounding percentage (.365) and
three-point field goals (7.4).
•The Bulldogs had a season-high 23 assists on 30 field goals
against Youngstown State.
•Junior Matt Howard has averaged 20.5 points and 8.8 rebounds
in four career games against Loyola. He had a career-high 30
points in his last game against the Ramblers.
•Matt Howard ranks second among active Horizon League players
in career scoring (1,092 points).
•Matt Howard has moved into fifth place on Butler’s
all-time list for free throws made with 402. He’s three
shy of Billy Shepherd, 1969-72, in the No. 4 spot.
•Matt Howard leads the Horizon League in free throws made
(90), while Gordon Hayward (89) stands second. Hayward is
fourth in the league in free throw percentage (.832), while Howard
is eighth (.789).
•Gordon Hayward had a streak of 17 consecutive games in
double-figures snapped when he scored just eight points against
Cleveland State.
•Sophomore Gordon Hayward, despite posting just 15 points and
eight rebounds in Butler’s wins over Cleveland State and
Youngstown State, still ranks fourth in the Horizon League in
scoring (15.8) and third in rebounding (8.4). Hayward, who
was battling an upper respiratory infection last weekend, is the
lone player in the league to rank in the “Top 5” in
both scoring and rebounding.
•Gordon Hayward is averaging a team-best 15.5 points in
Butler’s six road games this season. He’s
averaged 9.2 rebounds on the road for the Bulldogs.
•Shelvin Mack has had 17 straight games in double-figures,
after opening the season with just seven points against
Davidson. Butler is 20-4 when Mack scores at least 14 points
in a game, and 13-1 when the sophomore guard leads the team in
scoring.
•Shelvin Mack has led the Bulldogs with an 18.2 scoring
average during the team’s current six-game winning
streak. Mack is shooting .541 from the field and .448 from
the three-point arc during winning the streak.
•Senior Willie Veasley has scored in double-figures in eight
of Butler’s last nine games. Veasley has averaged 10.5
points during the Bulldogs’ current six-game wining
streak.
•Sophomore Ronald Nored matched his career-high with seven
assists, and he committed just one turnover against Youngstown
State. Nored leads the Horizon League lead in assist/turnover
ratio (2.4).
•The Bulldogs hit a season-high 12 three-point field goals
against Youngstown State. Butler has won its last 18 games
when hitting at least nine three-pointers.
