GAME 20:  --/-- Bulldogs (13-6, 3-3 BIG EAST) vs. Providence (12-6, 3-2)
Monday, Jan. 15  |  4:30 p.m. ET  
Providence, R.I.  |  Dunkin' Donuts Center
TV: FS1  |  @TimBrando & @LenElmore
Radio: 107.5 FM, 1070 AM & TuneIn Radio App  |  @MarkMinner & @n_gardner 
@ButlerMBB  |  ButlerSports.com

Full Notes (PDF)

THE SERIES: Butler and Providence will meet for the tenth time with Monday's match-up. Providence holds a 7-2 advantage in the all-time series with all of those contests occurring since Butler joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 season.
 
The teams split a pair of meetings last season with each protecting its home court.
 
Butler went a program-record 20-of-20 from the free throw line at Providence March 7, 2015, winning that contest 68-64.
 
IF YOU ONLY HAVE TWO MINUTES TO READ THIS PREVIEW:
• Kelan Martin scored a career-high 37 points Friday night against Marquette, the most by a Butler player since 1998.
• Martin leads the BIG EAST with a scoring average of 25.0 points per game in conference play.
• Butler is averaging 87.7 points per game in BIG EAST play. They are also allowing exactly 87.7 points per game.
• Martin has averaged 12.4 points per game in seven career games against Providence. That includes one 20-point outing and two double-doubles.
• Nate Fowler's career-high of 19 points came in last season's game at Providence (Feb. 11, 2017).
• Butler committed a season-low three turnovers Friday night against Marquette, the team's lowest number since January 14, 2014 against Creighton.
• Senior Tyler Wideman leads the BIG EAST in field goal percentage at .689.
• KenPom considers Butler's schedule to date to be the ninth-toughest among the nation's 351 teams.
 
CAREER NIGHT: Senior Kelan Martin scored a career-best 37 points in Friday's win over Marquette. The 6-7 forward was incredibly efficient in doing so, needing only 17 shots (making 12). He converted on all nine of his free throw attempts. For Martin, it was his third career 30-point outing and bettered his previous career-high of 35 points set against Georgetown on Feb. 2, 2016. The 37 points are the most by a Butler player in 20 years (Matthew Graves, now the head coach at South Alabama, scored 42 points against Cleveland State on Jan. 15, 1998).
 
Martin is averaging 25.0 points per game through the team's six BIG EAST contests, a mark that leads the conference.
 
TIGHT GRIP: Butler committed only three turnovers in Friday's win. That is the lowest total since the Bulldogs also committed only three miscues against Creighton on January 14, 2014. Butler is turning the ball over only 11.3 times per game so far this season. That mark is in the Top 25 nationally.
 
OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION: Butler is averaging 87.7 points per game in BIG EAST contests, which is second in the conference. Butler has scored at least 90 points in three of the six games, including a 101-point performance in the win over No. 1 Villanova on Dec. 30. The Bulldogs are shooting 50 percent from the field, 36 percent from the behind the arc, and 80 percent at the free throw line in those six BIG EAST games. However, the Bulldogs have allowed their opponents an average of exactly 87.7 points per game in those six games as well.
 
While offensive statistics have increased in many categories in recent years, Butler averaged 72.0 and 71.9 points per game, respectively, in Horizon League games on their way to the 2010 and 2011 national championship games.
 
MAN IN THE MIDDLE: Senior Tyler Wideman had 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting Friday night against Marquette. It marked his sixth game scoring 15 or more this season. Wideman is shooting 69 percent from the field on the season, which leads the BIG EAST.
 
Wideman was a large part of Butler owning a 60-28 advantage in points in the paint Friday night, the Bulldogs' third-highest margin of the season (behind only wins over Kennesaw State and Youngstown State).
 
ALL-AROUND PERFORMANCE: Kamar Baldwin turned in another strong statline Friday night, posting 19 points (on 9-of-14 shooting), five rebounds, four assists, two steals, and one block. Baldwin has pulled down five or more rebounds in nine straight games. He has swiped two or more assists in 12 games this season, contributing to his average of 1.8 steals per game, which is fourth in the conference.
 
Baldwin's scoring average of 21.0 points per game in BIG EAST play is fifth in the conference.
 
SHIFTING TIDES: Butler built a 14-point lead (42-28) with 1:54 to play in the first half of Friday's game with Marquette. Five seconds later, Kelan Martin picked up his second foul and went to the bench. Marquette scored the final eight points of the first half to trim Butler's halftime lead to 44-38. Nine straight points by Marquette midway through the second half gave the visitors a 67-60 lead with 10:06 to play. Butler scored the next 13 points (including eight by Martin) to take a 73-67 lead they would not relinquish. Martin scored 24 points in the second half, including 20 over the final 10 minutes of the game.
 
LOCKING IT DOWN: Marquette's backcourt duo of Markus Howard and Andrew Rowsey entered Friday's game averaging a combined 49.2 points per game in BIG EAST play. Butler limited them to 31. Howard was scoreless in the first half and was 0-of-4 from behind the arc. 
 
BUILDING A RESUME: Butler has five wins against the KenPom Top 100 at this point in the season. That includes a win over No. 1-ranked Villanova. The Bulldogs also own wins over Ohio State, Utah, Georgetown, and Marquette (Furman is rated No. 105). All six of Butler's losses have come against teams ranked in the KenPom Top 50 (with three of those coming on the road and two others on a neutral court). KenPom ranks Butler at No. 40 nationally. KenPom rankings are through the games of Saturday, Jan. 13.
 
TOUGH COMPETITION: Through the games of Saturday, Jan. 13, Butler's schedule is viewed as the ninth-toughest nationally by KenPom.com.
 
HOT AT HINKLE: Butler is now 10-1 this season at Hinkle Fieldhouse. At Hinkle, the Bulldogs are averaging 88.5 points per game while shooting 54 percent from the field. Butler has reached 80 points in 10 of the games. Butler is 3-5 away from its home court, averaging 70.2 ppg on 41-percent shooting.
 
TOUGH STRETCH: Butler has emerged from a portion of the schedule that saw the Bulldogs play four consecutive Top 25 opponents. It marked only the second time in program history that Butler faced four straight Top 25 foes, joining the run to the 2010 national championship game. Butler did not face four consecutive Top 25 opponents in its run to the 2011 national championship game.
 
For the first time in program history, Butler played Top-five ranked opponents (No. 1 Villanova and No. 5 Xavier) in back-to-back games. Top 10 back-to-back had previously occurred twice (1962 and 2010 NCAA Tournaments).
 
SCORE(AND)BOARD: Senior Kelan Martin had 10 points and 11 rebounds in Tuesday's loss at No. 25 Creighton. It marked the fifth double-double of the season and the 15^th of his career.
 
LONG-RANGE SHOOTER, FIRST-TIME LEADER: For the first time in his Butler career, Paul Jorgensen led the team in scoring with 18 points Tuesday night at Creighton. Jorgensen matched a career-high with eight made field goals. The redshirt junior is third on the team in scoring at 12.0 points per game, and leads the team with 41 three-pointers. Jorgensen has 14 double-figure scoring games this season after having only eight in 73 games at George Washington in his two seasons there before transferring to Butler.
 
THAT'S OFFENSIVE: Butler is now 10-1 this season when scoring 80 or more points, and 12-3 when scoring north of 70. The Bulldogs are 10-0 when shooting a better field goal percentage than their opponent and 11-0 when shooting better than 50 percent from the field. 
 
Butler shot 59.4 percent from the field in Friday's win over Marquette, the second-best mark of the season (.600 in the win over Villanova Dec. 30).