Bulldogs Host Potent Cleveland State
Butler vs. Cleveland
State
Friday, January 13, 7 p.m. (ET)
Hinkle Fieldhouse - Indianapolis, Ind.
Game Notes | Live
Stats | Audio | Tickets
FIRST LOOK: For the third time in the
past four games, Butler will face a team that entered the week in
first place in the Horizon League standings. The Bulldogs
will host Cleveland State on Friday, Jan. 13, in a game that will
be televised on ESPNU at 7 p.m. (ET). Cleveland State,
currently tied with Youngstown State one-half game behind
league-leading Milwaukee, brings the league’s best overall
record (14-3) to Friday’s game. The Vikings have won
nine of their last 11 games, including two straight, and they come
to Indianapolis as the league leader in scoring margin (+7.0),
steals (9.2), assists (14.2) and turnover margin (+4.5), while
ranking second in scoring defense (58.0). Included on
Cleveland State’s resume is a 7-1 road record, the
league’s lone winning road ledger. The Vikings began
that road success with a convincing victory at Vanderbilt, ranked
seventh nationally at the time. Cleveland State swept Loyola,
73-56, and UIC, 73-56, at home in its most recent outings.
Butler is coming off a split of a league road trip to Wright State
and Detroit. The Bulldogs edged Wright State, 63-62, before
falling at Detroit, 76-65. The two games left Butler at 9-8
overall and 3-2 in Horizon League action. Friday’s game
will be the first of consecutive tests against top league teams for
the Bulldogs. Youngstown State, the only league squad to beat
Cleveland State this season, visits Hinkle Fieldhouse on Sunday
(Jan.
15).
The last four times that Butler has faced Cleveland State
(including this year), the Vikings have been in first place in the
Horizon League.
‘DOGS HOUSE: Butler, which suffered
its first two-game, homecourt losing streak in five years under
head coach Brad Stevens in December, has won its last two home
games and stands 6-3 at home on the season. The Bulldogs
handed Green Bay its first Horizon League setback on Dec. 29 and
then gave Milwaukee its first league loss two days later.
Since Stevens took over as head coach, Butler is 62-8 at Hinkle
Fieldhouse, and the Bulldogs have won 36 of 39 Horizon League
regular season home games.
Butler is 158-22 at Hinkle Fieldhouse since the start of the
1999-2000 season.
CLOSE CALLS: Butler’s last five wins
have come by an average margin of 3.2 points. The
Bulldogs’ three Horizon League wins each were decided in the
final minute of play.
HOT SPOT: Host Detroit turned a season-best
56.3% shooting performance from beyond the three-point arc into an
11-point victory over the Bulldogs in the second game of
Butler’s initial Horizon League road swing. The Titans,
who entered the game in last place in the league in three-point
shooting (.268), hit nine of 16 long-range shots against the
Bulldogs. Detroit connected on four of seven three-point
attempts in the first half, while building a 38-26 halftime
lead. Detroit wound up shooting 53.2% (25-47) from the field
and 81% (17-21) from the free throw line for the game. The
nine three-pointers in the game were the most by the Titans against
a Division I foe this season. Butler began its two-game road
swing with a one-point win at Wright State less than 48 hours
earlier.
STEPPING UP: Senior Ronald Nored (right) shot 70%
from the field and averaged 12.0 points on Butler’s two-game
trip to Wright State and Detroit. He was perfect from the
field (3-3) and hit four of five from the free throw line, while
scoring 11 points in the win at Wright State. The 6-0 guard
then led the Bulldogs in scoring at Detroit with 13 points, hitting
four of seven shots including two of two from beyond the
three-point arc. Over the past five games, Nored has shot
.545 from the field (18-33), .636 (7-11) from the three point arc
and averaged 12.4 points. He led the Bulldogs with a
career-high 18 points at Stanford and then shared the team lead
with 13 points against Green Bay. Nored also has topped the
team in assists (14) and steals (8) over the past five outings.
IMPROVED TOUCH: Butler entered the Wright
State-Detroit trip in last place in the Horizon League in team
field goal shooting (.389). The Bulldogs climbed out of the
basement with a season-best shooting performance at Wright State
and then followed that with 52% shooting in the second half at
Detroit. Butler shot at a .565 (26-46) clip in the victory
over the Raiders, despite hitting just three of 16 (19%) shots from
the three-point arc. The Bulldogs hit 76.7% (23-30) on shots
inside the three-point line! Butler then hit 14 of 27 shots
in the final 20 minutes at Detroit. Over the last five games,
the Bulldogs have shot .432 from the field and recorded two of the
top three single game performances of the season.
ROAD WARRIOR: Sophomore Khyle Marshall came
off the bench and recorded back-to-back, double-figures scoring
performances for the Bulldogs at Wright State and Detroit.
The 6-6 forward had the best shooting performance by a Butler
player this season, while scoring 14 points at Wright State.
He hit seven of eight shots (.875) against the Raiders, with his
lone miss coming from beyond the three-point arc. Marshall then
scored 11 points in 20 minutes at Detroit. He averaged 12.5
points and shot 66.7% from the field on the two-game trip.
Khyle Marshall has averaged a team-best 11.1 points on the
road this season.
DIALED IN: Junior Andrew Smith has hit 24
of 36 (.667) field goal attempts in Butler’s last five
games. Smith, who hit 10 of 17 shots on Butler’s recent
two-game road trip, connected on five of seven field goal attempts
in the Bulldogs’ win at Stanford, and then he hit five of six
against Green Bay and four of six against Milwaukee. In the
eight games prior to Butler’s victory over Purdue, Smith had
shot just 34% (19-56) from the floor.
Andrew Smith ranked second in the Horizon League in FG% (.593)
a year ago.
CRASH COURSE: Freshman Roosevelt Jones led
the Bulldogs in rebounding on both legs of the Wright State-Detroit
trip. The 6-4 forward had five rebounds against both foes,
and he had a team-high six offensive boards on the two-game
swing. Jones, who leads the Bulldogs in rebounding on the
season, has topped the team on the boards in five of the past six
games. He ranks tenth in the Horizon League in rebounding
(5.9).
STEAL WILL: Ronald Nored became the fourth
player in Butler history to record 175 career steals with his first
theft at Detroit. He added a second steal later in the game,
and he enters this week’s action in a tie with Darren
Fowlkes, 1985-89, for third place on Butler’s all-time steals
list. Nored trails A. J. Graves, 2004-08, in second place on
the all-time list by seven thefts. Thomas Jackson, 1998-2002,
is Butler’s all-time leader with 207 career steals.
TOP TEN: Brad Stevens became the tenth
coach in Horizon League history to record 125 career victories
while a member of the league with the Bulldogs’ win over
Milwaukee in the last game at Hinkle Fieldhouse. He enters
this weekend’s action with 126 career wins, five behind his
former boss, Todd Lickliter (2001-07) in ninth place on the
league’s overall wins list. Perry Watson of Detroit
owns the league record with 261 victories from 1993 to 2008.
BULLDOG BITS:
•Butler has had a 107-47 advantage in bench scoring in its
last four Horizon League games. The Bulldogs’ bench
out-scored Butler’s two most recent foes, 62-32.
•Senior Ronald Nored is the Horizon League’s active
leader in career assists (377). He stand fifth on
Butler’s all-time assist chart.
•Ronald Nored is second in the Horizon League in assists
(4.3). He ranks fifth in the league in assist/turnover ratio
(1.5).
•Ronald Nored ranks third in the Horizon League in steals
(2.1). Nored has had three or more steals in seven games this
season.
•Ronald Nored has scored in double-figures in four of
Butler’s last five games.
•Ronald Nored scored 13 points and matched his career-high
with eight rebounds against Cleveland State in last year’s
game at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
•Junior Andrew Smith had averaged 13.0 points in
Butler’s nine wins this season, but just 6.8 points in the
Bulldogs’ eight losses. Butler is 9-1 when Smith scores
in double-figures.
•Andrew Smith averaged 15.7 points and 7.7 rebounds in
Butler’s three games against Cleveland State last year.
He scored in double figures in each of the three wins.
•Andrew Smith is Butler’s leading scorer at Hinkle
Fieldhouse (10.1) this season.
•Junior Chase Stigall made his first collegiate start at
Cleveland State a year ago. The Butler guard had 17 points in
three games against the Vikings in 2010-11.
•Sophomore Khyle Marshall continues to lead the Bulldogs in
field goal shooting (.568). He ranks third in the Horizon
League.
•Khyle Marshall came off the bench with 11 points in
Butler’s victory over Cleveland State at Hinkle Fieldhouse
last year. He had 12 points in the Bulldogs’ win at
CSU.
•Sophomore Chrishawn Hopkins has come off the bench with 28
points in Butler’s last three contests. He had scored
19 total points in Butler’s previous seven outings.
•Freshman Roosevelt Jones ranks third in the Horizon League
in offensive rebounds (3.0).
•Freshman Andrew Smeathers came off the bench with eight
points at Detroit, his most against a Division I foe this
season.
•Butler has had eight different players lead the team or
share the team lead in scoring in the past nine games.
•Butler head coach Brad Stevens has moved into a tie with his
former boss, Todd Lickliter, for ninth place on the Horizon
League’s all-time list for league wins (65), on victory
behind Rob Jeter of Milwaukee. Perry Watson of Detroit is the
all-time leader with 131 victories.
