Bulldogs Host No. 7 Louisville
Butler vs. No. 7
Louisville
Saturday, November 19, 2 p.m. (ET)
Hinkle Fieldhouse
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NATIONAL LOOK:
Butler will continue a four-game homestand against the
highest-ranked foe to visit Hinkle Fieldhouse in nearly two
decades. The Bulldogs will host Top 10-ranked Louisville on
Saturday, Nov. 19, at 2 p.m. (ET) in a contest that will be
broadcast on ESPN3.com. The Cardinals, ranked No. 8 in the
Associated Press national poll and No. 7 in the ESPN/USA Today
poll, are making their first appearance at Hinkle Fieldhouse since
1973 and just their fifth visit ever. Head coach Rick
Pitino’s squad is the highest-ranked team to play on
Butler’s homecourt since 1992, when No. 5 North Carolina
raced past the Bulldogs, 103-56. The Cardinals are off to a
2-0 start, winning their first two contests by an average margin of
27.5 points. Louisville led wire-to-wire in a victory over
Tennessee-Martin and never trailed after the 17-minute mark of the
first half in a 20-point win over Lamar. Butler bounced back
from a season-opening overtime loss at Evansville with a 57-46
victory at home over Chattanooga on Tuesday (Nov. 15). The
Chattanooga contest was the first of four games the Bulldogs will
play in the Hoosier Invitational, which concludes at Indiana on
Sunday, Nov.
27.
Butler is 57-5 at Hinkle Fieldhouse under head coach Brad
Stevens.
HOME WORK: Butler is playing seven of its
first nine games at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Bulldogs, who won
their final four home games last season, currently own a five-game
homecourt winning streak. Butler has won 28 of its last
30 home contests.
Butler has won 15 of 16 non-league games at home over the past
three years.
PULLING RANK: Louisville is the first
“Top 25” foe to visit Hinkle Fieldhouse since #13 Ohio
State dropped a 74-66 decision to Butler on the Bulldogs’
homecourt in December of 2009. Butler has had two
nationally-ranked opponents visit Hinkle Fieldhouse during the
tenure of head coach Brad Stevens, and the Bulldogs are 1-1 in
those two games.
HOOSIER INVITATIONAL: Butler’s game
with nationally-ranked Louisville falls in the middle of the five
team Hoosier Invitational. The Bulldogs began the event at
home against Chattanooga and will continue with home games against
Savannah State on Monday (Nov. 21) and Gardner-Webb on Wednesday
(Nov. 23). Butler will play at Indiana on Sunday, Nov.
27.
HOME START: Butler passed its first home
test with a gritty defensive effort against Southern Conference
favorite Chattanooga. The Bulldogs held Chattanooga without a
field goal for the final 13:30 of the game, while pulling away to
an 11-point win. Butler surrendered just five total field
goals and 19 points in the second half. The staunch defensive
effort helped to offset Butler’s 37% shooting for the game,
including 27.3% (6-22) from beyond the three-point arc. The
Bulldogs led 28-27 at halftime and never trailed in the final 20
minutes.
DOUBLE SHOT: Junior Andrew Smith, who
started 32 games for the Bulldogs a year ago, continued to
establish himself as a major presence for the Bulldogs with another
strong outing in Butler’s victory over Chattanooga. The
6-11 center recorded his second career double-double with
team-highs of 16 points and 10 rebounds against the Mocs. He
hit five of eight shots from the field, including one of two from
beyond the three-point arc, and five of seven from the free throw
line. His 10 rebounds were one off his career-high, set last
year against Loyola. Smith led Butler in scoring in both
preseason exhibition games, and he turned in the second-highest
scoring performance of his career with 21 points in the
Bulldogs’ season-opener at Evansville. The former
Covenant Christian High School star was Butler’s
third-leading scorer (8.5) and second-leading rebounder (5.6) last
season.
Andrew Smith finished second in the Horizon League in field
goal shooting (.593) in 2010-11.
LOCAL DEBUT: Sophomore Chrishawn Hopkins
(right), who missed Butler’s two preseason exhibition games
with a concussion, was in the Bulldogs’ starting lineup for
the Chattanooga game. It was the second start of his
collegiate career and his first time in Butler’s starting
lineup in Hinkle Fieldhouse. He responded by scoring 12
points and posting career-highs of five rebounds and five assists
in the Butler win. Hopkins was given his first collegiate
start at Evansville, and he wound up leading the Bulldogs with a
career-high 22 points and a career-high five assists. The 22
points were just 10 shy of his entire season total from a year
ago! In addition to his points and assists, Hopkins recorded
career-highs for field goals (8), field goal attempts (19) and
minutes played (39) against the Aces.
Chrishawn Hopkins hit his first collegiate three-point field
goal against Louisville last
year.
FRESH LIFT: All of Butler’s bench
points against Chattanooga came from a pair of freshman forwards,
making their first Butler appearance. Kameron Woods came off
the bench with four points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots
in 21 minutes of action. His seven rebounds were second-most
for the Bulldogs in the victory, while his three blocked shots led
the team. Roosevelt Jones chipped in with two points
and five rebounds in 12 minutes on the floor. The two
accounted for five of Butler’s 12 offensive rebounds in the
game. Butler played four different freshmen against
Chattanooga. Guard Jackson Aldridge came off the bench with
two assists and one rebound, while Andrew Smeathers added his first
collegiate rebound to Butler’s total.
MAN OF STEAL: Senior co-captain Ronald
Nored helped spark Butler’s defensive effort against
Chattanooga with a team-high four steals in the contest. The
former Horizon League Co-Defensive Player of the Year also led the
Bulldogs with three steals against Evansville. The four
steals against Chattanooga matched the second-highest total of his
Butler career, trailing only his five steals performances against
Syracuse in the 2010 NCAA Tournament and against Valparaiso in
2009. Nored, who’s been named to the Horizon League
All-Defensive Team for two consecutive years, has topped the
Bulldogs in steals for two straight seasons, and he’s heading
into this weekend’s action with 148 career thefts.
Butler’s all-time record is 207 steals, set by Thomas
Jackson, 1998-02.
Ronald Nored has had two or more steals in 43 career games at
Butler.
FRENZIED FINISH: Butler appeared to have
won its season-opener at Evansville twice in the closing seconds,
but ultimately the Bulldogs left the court with a three-point
overtime loss. Evansville, trailing 69-68, missed a final
shot in the closing seconds and Butler looked to have survived as
the ball bounced loose. But the Bulldogs were called for a
foul on the scramble for the loose ball with 0:00.9 left.
Evansville scoring leader Colt Ryan made one of two free throws to
tie the game. Butler’s Emerson Kampen then threw a full-court
pass to junior Andrew Smith, who turned and laid it in the basket
as the final buzzer sounded. The Bulldogs’ celebration
was cut short, when the officials huddled and ruled that Smith was
fouled with 0:00.2 left, before the shot. The Butler center
missed both free throw attempts, sending the game into
overtime.
NEW SEASON: The Bulldogs have just two
seniors, Ronald Nored and Garrett Butcher, on this year’s
squad and just five players who boast more than one season of
experience. Gone from last year’s 28-10 team, which won
the Horizon League regular season and tournament championships and
advanced to the national title game for a second straight year, are
starters Matt Howard, Shelvin Mack and Shawn Vanzant, top reserve
Zach Hahn and four-year letterwinners Grant Leiendecker and Alex
Anglin. Howard finished his career as Butler’s third
all-time leading scorer and rebounder, while Mack was taken by the
Washington Wizards in the second round of the NBA Draft. The
six departures accounted for 64% of Butler’s scoring and 48%
of the squad’s rebounding a year ago. This year’s
squad features eight returning letterwinners and six freshmen.
QUICK START: Butler head coach Brad
Stevens, who picked up his 118th career win on Tuesday, owns the
top spot on the NCAA Division I list for Best Career Starts By
Wins, 4 Years. The Bulldogs’ coach completed last
season with a four-year record of 117-25, topping the previous
four-year mark of 107-22 set by Everett Case of North Carolina
State (1947-50). Stevens also holds the NCAA three-year
record with 89 victories, and he’s second on the two-year
list (56).
LOOKING BACK: The 88 points Louisville
rolled up in last year’s meeting with Butler were the most
scored against the Bulldogs in 2010-11. The Cardinals also
had the highest 2010-11 totals for free throws (29) and free throw
attempts (43) against the Bulldogs, and Louisville tied the highest
single game total for steals (11) by a Butler opponent.
BULLDOG BITS:
•Senior Ronald Nored, who had five assists against
Chattanooga, has moved into ninth place on Butler’s all-time
assist chart. Nored boosted his Butler career total to 313
assists, and moved ahead of Mike Monserez (310, 2001-04) on the
all-time list.
Butler All-Time Assist Chart
540 Thomas Jackson,
1998-2002
471 Tim Bowen, 1989-93
457 Jeff Rogers, 1994-98
411 Darrin Fitzgerald,
1983-87
357 Shelvin Mack, 2008-11
323 Avery Sheets, 2002-06
316 Mike Green, 2006-08
316 A. J. Graves, 2004-08
313 Ronald Nored, 2008-
310 Mike Monserez,
2001-04
•Butler’s Ronald Nored is one of 30 candidates
nominated for the 2011-12 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.
The award is presented to one senior who has shown notable
achievement in four areas of excellence - classroom, character,
community and competition. Former teammate Matt Howard was
one of 10 finalists for the award a year ago.
•Ronald Nored has been named to the 25-player Lou Henson
Preseason All-America Team. The CollegeInsider.com team
honors the top Mid-Major players in the nation. Nored joined
Detroit’s Ray McCallum as the lone Horizon League players
selected to this year’s preseason squad. Butler’s
Matt Howard was named the Lou Henson Player of the Year last
season.
•Butler co-captains Ronald Nored and Garrett Butcher both
were in the starting lineup at Louisville last year. Six
other returning Butler players - Andrew Smith, Chase Stigall, Khyle
Marshall, Erik Fromm, Chrishawn Hopkins and Emerson Kampen - also
saw action in the game.
•Andrew Smith, who had just one three-point field goal
attempt all of last year, has hit three of five long-range shots in
Butler’s first two games this season.
•Andrew Smith was the lone Butler player named to the
preseason All-Horizon League team. The 6-11 Butler center
earned second team All-League recognition on the preseason squad
chosen by league coaches, media an sports information
directors.
•Junior Chase Stigall had a career-high six rebounds at
Evansville. He played a career-high 35 minutes in the
game.
•Sophomore Chrishawn Hopkins has averaged a league-high 38.5
minutes in his first two Butler starts.
•Sophomore Khyle Marshall has hit six of seven field goal
attempts in Butler’s first two games, and he currently tops
the Horizon League in field goal percentage.
•Junior Chase Stigall, who hit 40 three-point field goal a
year ago, hit his first 2011-12 three-pointer in the closing
minutes against Chattanooga to help Butler pull away from the
Mocs.
•The Bulldogs are 50-4 in regular season play under coach
Brad Stevens when hitting nine or more three-point field goals in a
game.
•Butler is one of just three NCAA Division I schools to win
at least 25 games in each of the last five seasons. The other
two are Kansas and BYU.
•Butler head coach Brad Stevens landed three recruits on the
first day of the NCAA’s fall signing period. Joining
the Bulldogs’ 2012-13 freshman class were 6-5 Kellen Dunham
of Pendleton Heights, 6-3 Devontae Morgan of Tampa, Fla., and 5-11
Chris Harrison-Docks of Okemos, Mich. Dunham averaged 23.6
points and shot 43% from three-point range as a junior at Pendleton
Heights High School, while Morgan averaged 17.3 points and 8.2
rebounds during his junior season at Tampa Prep.
Harrison-Docks averaged 23.0 points at Okemos High School.
