Butler improved to 8-1 with a 94-86 victory over Tennessee Saturday afternoon at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Kelan Martin came off the bench for a career-high 25 points to complement Roosevelt Jones's near triple-double of 21 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. With the loss, Tennessee drops to 4-4 on the season.

Butler's offensive efficiency was on display. The Bulldogs entered the contest ranked third in the country in scoring and the 94 points bettered their season average. Butler had 19 assists against only 10 turnovers and shot 52 percent in the second half to finish the afternoon 29-of-62 (47 percent).

"We had a great crowd and atmosphere today," said Butler coach Chris Holtmann about today's sell-out crowd of 9,100. "As a coach, you're most pleased about 19 assists and only 10 turnovers and we did a really good job of sharing the ball today. We have to do a better job of defending on a consistent basis. The real test for this team is will we be able to grind out a game in the 50s when we need to."

Martin's 25 points came in only 20 minutes of work. Over the last three games, Martin has set two career-highs and has 69 points in 69 minutes of action. He shot 5-of-8 from behind the arc and added 11 rebounds for his second career double-double.

After missing its first eight shots of the contest, Butler rallied to overcome a first-half deficit that grew as large as 10 at 25-15. A Jones runner with 3:51 to play in the first half gave Butler a 37-36 lead, its first since five minutes into the contest. The Bulldogs took a 48-43 advantage into the half.

Tennessee would cut Butler's lead to two on several occasions early in the second half before 13 points from Martin turned a 61-59 Butler lead into a 74-63 advantage with 10:32 to play. The 13-4 run by Martin took only 2:30 off the clock.

In the closing minutes, Tennessee would trim the lead to as few as four, but Butler iced the game at the free throw line, where the Bulldogs went 26-of-30 on the afternoon. The Bulldogs also out-rebounded the visitors, 39-26.

Tennessee stayed in the game by committing only eight turnovers and shooting 49 percent from the field. The Volunteers made only one of nine three-point attempts in the second half after going 7-of-14 over the first 20 minutes. Kevin Punter led Tennessee with 27 points. He was one of four Tennessee players in double figures.

Five Bulldogs had at least 10 as Tyler Wideman (14), Kellen Dunham (12) and Jordan Gathers (10) joined Martin and Jones in double figures. Tyler Lewis had five assists on the afternoon. Butler shot 47 percent for the game and made a season-high 10 treys (on 28 attempts).

Butler takes the week off for finals before facing off with nationally-ranked Purdue Saturday (Dec. 19) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse as part of the Crossroads Classic.