GAME 8:  --/rv Bulldogs (5-2, 0-0 BIG EAST) vs. Saint Louis (3-3)
Saturday, Dec. 2  |  2 p.m. ET  
Indianapolis, Ind.  |  Hinkle Fieldhouse
TV: FS1  |  @VinceWelch & @NickBahe
Radio: 1070 AM, 107.5 FM & TuneIn Radio App  |  @MarkMinner & @n_gardner 
@ButlerMBB  |  ButlerSports.com
Tickets: Still available - purchase

Full Notes (PDF)

HOME, SWEET HINKLE: The Bulldogs return to Hinkle Fieldhouse for a Saturday match-up with Saint Louis. The Bulldogs (5-2 overall) are 3-0 at Hinkle this season. In those three games, the Bulldogs have scored 80 points in each contest (averaging 83.0 ppg) while shooting 54 percent from the field. Butler is 2-2 away from its home court, averaging 62.8 ppg on 38-percent shooting.
 
CALL IT A COMEBACK: In its final game of the PK80 Invitational in Portland, Butler overcame a 15-point deficit with 3:46 to play in regulation to post a 67-66 overtime win over Ohio State. Butler scored 20 points in the final 3:51 of regulation after scoring only 39 points over the first 36 minutes of play. The Bulldogs closed regulation on an 18-3 run, including a game-tying three-pointer from Kamar Baldwin with 16 seconds to play.
 
KEY TO VICTORY: Senior Kelan Martin scored a game-best 24 points against Ohio State Sunday, including a contested lay-in with 3.8 seconds remaining in overtime that proved to be the game-winner. Martin tied his career-high with four steals and played a career-best 43 minutes in the contest.
 
For Martin, Sunday's game was his 24^th career 20-point outing (third this season) and the 34^th time in his Butler career that he has led the team in scoring.
 
• Butler has won 38 consecutive home games against non-conference opponents. The streak dates back to a loss to Pittsburgh in the 2012 College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
• Sean McDermott will miss 4-6 weeks with an ankle sprain suffered in the Nov. 24 game against Portland State as part of the PK80 Invitational.
• Butler and Saint Louis have a long-standing series that includes years as Midwestern Collegiate Conference foes, as well as one season (2012-13) together in the Atlantic 10. In Butler's only season in the A10, Saint Louis won three match-ups with the Bulldogs (two regular season and one in the A10 Tournament). Overall, Saint Louis has a 19-11 advantage in the all-time series. This is the first half of a home-and-home agreement that will have the Bulldogs travel to Saint Louis next season. 
• In its most recent match-up with Saint Louis head coach Travis Ford, Butler lost to his Oklahoma State, 69-67, in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando on Nov. 29, 2013. Ford's Cowboys were led by Marcus Smart's 17 points. Former Butler coach Brad Stevens and his Boston Celtics would select Smart with the sixth pick of the 2014 NBA Draft.
• The field for the 2018 Battle 4 Atlantis was officially announced Nov. 24. Butler will join Wisconsin, Florida, Virginia, Oklahoma, Stanford, Dayton, and Middle Tennessee State in the field.

LOCKING IT DOWN: While Butler's offense heated up in the closing minutes, Butler's defense also stepped up. Ohio State's C.J. Jackson made a field goal with 5:31 to play in regulation (making the score 54-39). Ohio State would only have one other field goal through the end of overtime.
 
DOWN THE STRETCH: Kamar Baldwin was held scoreless in the first half of Sunday's game against Ohio State, missing all five of his attempts over the first 20 minutes. Following the intermission, Baldwin posted 14 points and tied a career-high with four assists.
 
GETTING THE CALL: Junior Nate Fowler got his first start of the season and the second of his career in Sunday's win over Ohio State. Fowler played a career-high 25 minutes and had a career-best three steals to go along with four points and three rebounds.
 
ALSO IN PORTLAND: Butler defeated Portland State, 71-69, Nov. 24 in PK80 play. The Bulldogs shot 51 percent in the contest, the fourth time shooting 50 percent or better this season. Butler is 4-0 in those games. Tyler Wideman led Butler with 18 points (on 9-of-10 shooting) and eight rebounds, including six on the offensive glass. It marked the second time this season and fifth time in his career that Wideman led the Bulldogs in scoring.
 
SLOWING THE ATTACK: Butler's defense limited Portland State to 44-percent shooting and 69 points. The Vikings had scored 80 or more in each of their first five games this season, including a loss to Duke to open the PK80 when PSU led the Blue Devils at halftime.
 
DEEP THREAT: Paul Jorgensen hit a career-best four three-pointers and scored 14 points for the Bulldogs against Portland State. He also had season-highs in assists (five) and rebounds (five). Jorgensen went 4-of-7 from three-point range; the rest of Butler's team was a combined 0-for-10.
 
BREAKOUT PERFORMANCES: Redshirt sophomore Sean McDermott scored 17 points in back-to-back games against Maryland and Furman. Entering that week, his career-high was seven points, but the forward nailed eight of 14 three-point attempts in those two games, including a 5-of-7 performance against Furman.  
 
QUICK HANDS: Prior to the win over Ohio State, Kamar Baldwin had three steals in four consecutive games. He added a single steal against the Buckeyes and is now averaging 2.3 steals per game, which is third in the BIG EAST.
 
Baldwin had 59 steals last season, a mark that is eighth on Butler's single-season list. He had seven games of three or more steals last season.
 
QUICK START: Aaron Thompson, who made his first career start Nov. 18 against Furman, has dished out four or more assists in four of his first seven college games.
 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: On his 22^nd birthday, Tyler Wideman had a game-high 19 points to lead the Bulldogs to the win over Furman Nov. 18. The total was one shy of his career-high. Wideman is third on the team in scoring (10.3) so far this season, while making 67 percent of his attempts from the field.
 
FIRE WHEN READY: Paul Jorgensen came off the bench for the first time this season against Furman Nov. 18 and promptly tied his career-high with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting. His only other time scoring 16 points came during his two seasons at George Washington before transferring to Butler.
 
FIFTEEN FEET AND IN: In Butler's five wins, the Bulldogs are a combined +108 in points in the paint, highlighted by a 50-16 advantage in the season-opener against Kennesaw State. Butler has been at least +24 in four of those five games.
 
TIGHT GRIP: Butler committed only seven turnovers against Princeton Nov. 12, and is averaging 12.0 per game on the young season. The Bulldogs are third in the BIG EAST in fewest turnovers committed.
 
FAST START: Senior Kelan Martin earned BIG EAST Player of the Week honors (Nov. 13) after registering back-to-back 20-point games as Butler won two games over opening weekend. This is the fifth weekly honor for Martin, who also was recognized twice as a junior and twice as a senior.
 
'BOARD' OUT OF HIS MIND: Martin had a career-best 14 rebounds against Princeton Nov. 12, which contributed to his first double-double of the season and the 11^th of his career. No Bulldog had more than 11 rebounds in a game last season.
 
WELCOME ABOARD: Markeese Hastings, a 6-7 forward from Wyoming, Mich., has signed a national letter of intent to join the Butler men's basketball program beginning with the 2018-19 season. As a junior at Godwin Heights High School, Hastings averaged 14.6 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.8 blocks, and 2.1 assists.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Just seven games into his senior season, Martin now has 1,416 career points, which is already 16th on Butler's all-time list. His 544 points in 2016-17 were the seventh-best total for a junior in Butler history.
 
WELCOME HOME: LaVall Jordan started his Butler head coaching career in style as his Bulldogs posted an 82-64 win over Kennesaw State in front of a sold-out Hinkle Fieldhouse crowd. Jordan, who helped Butler to conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances as both a player and an assistant coach, returned to his alma mater as the 24th head coach in men's basketball program history on June 12. The head coach who recruited him to Butler as a student-athlete (Barry Collier) is the Butler's Director of Athletics who hired him to this position over the summer.
 
THE FRESHMAN 15: Newcomer Aaron Thompson posted 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the Nov. 12 win over Princeton. He also went 5-of-7 from the free throw. Ten of his points steadied the ship in the first half as Butler's starting backcourt of Kamar Baldwin and Paul Jorgensen were saddled with two fouls.

THE ARC: The three-point line has not been kind to the Bulldogs this season. Offensively, Butler is hitting only 28.8 percent of their long-range attempts, which is 312^th nationally. Defensively, Butler's opponents are making 43 percent of their attempts, which is 342^nd nationally.
 
ANOTHER HONOR: Kelan Martin has been named to the Wooden Award Watch List. Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for college basketball's most prestigious individual honor. Martin earned one of the spots on the preseason All-BIG EAST first team after averaging 16.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game a season ago. Martin has also been named to preseason watch lists for three prominent awards: the Naismith Trophy (national player of the year presented by the Atlanta Tipoff Club), the Lute Olson Award (national player of the year who has played college basketball for two or more seasons, presented by CollegeInsider.com), and the 2018 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award. 
 
BIG DAWGS IN BIG MOMENTS: Kelan Martin and Kamar Baldwin combined for 29 of their 35 points in the second half against Princeton Nov. 12, securing the win for the Bulldogs.
 
'TAPAS' PERFORMANCES: The Bulldogs utilized a four-game foreign tour to Spain to prepare for the 2017-18 campaign. The team went 4-0, playing professional teams in Madrid, Albacete, Valencia, and Barcelona, from August 2-12. The team flew to Spain on coach LaVall Jordan's 50^th day as Butler's head coach. The Bulldogs did extensive sight-seeing throughout the country, literally only touching a basketball during the four games.
 
BEST GUESS: BIG EAST coaches picked Butler to finish eighth in the league's preseason poll, which was released at BIG EAST Media Day Oct. 18. The Bulldogs finished second in the league standings a season ago after being picked sixth in the preseason poll.