GAME 22: Bulldogs (14-7, 4-4 BIG EAST) vs. St. John's (10-11, 0-9)
Saturday, Jan. 27  |  2:30 p.m. ET  
Indianapolis, Ind.  |  Hinkle Fieldhouse
TV: FS1  |  @VinceWelch & @NickBahe
Radio: 107.5 FM, 1070 AM & TuneIn Radio App  |  @MarkMinner & @n_gardner 
@ButlerMBB  |  ButlerSports.com
Tickets: Still available - purchase

Full Notes (PDF)

THE SERIES: Butler and St. John's will meet for the tenth time with Saturday's match-up. Butler holds a 5-4 advantage in the all-time series. The teams first met in the 1958 NIT with St. John's posting a 76-69 win in that contest. All of the remaining match-ups have come since Butler joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 season.
 
Butler has won five of the last six meetings with the teams splitting the 2016-17 season series with each winning on its home court (76-73 in Queens and 110-86 at Hinkle Fieldhouse).

QUICK HITS: 
• At 19.7 points per game, Kelan Martin is on pace for the highest single-season scoring average since Darin Archbold averaged 24.8 in 1991-92.
• In his last four games against St. John's, Martin is averaging 18 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. 
• Tyler Wideman's career-high of 20 points came against St. John's on Dec. 29, 2016. He added a double-double (14p/10r) in the second meeting with the Red Storm last season.
• Wideman leads the BIG EAST in field goal percentage at .682.
• Butler is 10-1 this season at Hinkle Fieldhouse. At Hinkle, the Bulldogs are averaging 88.5 points per game.
• KenPom considers Butler's schedule to date to be the seventh-toughest among the nation's 351 teams.
• Butler went 21-of-25 at the free throw line in the win over DePaul in the team's last outing, the eighth time this season shooting 80 percent or better at the charity stripe.

BACK IN THE WIN COLUMN: The Bulldogs posted a 79-67 win over DePaul in the team's most recent outing (Saturday, Jan. 20). Senior Kelan Martin led the Bulldogs with 24 points as Butler shot 51 percent from the field. Kamar Baldwin added 18 points.
 
PUTTING THE D IN DAWGS: Butler's best two defensive performances in BIG EAST play have come in team's two most recent outings. The Bulldogs limited DePaul to 67 points in Saturday's win after holding Providence to 70 in a loss on the road Jan. 15. Butler's first six BIG EAST foes each scored 83 or more points against the Bulldogs.
 
LONG RANGE: Kelan Martin tied a career-high with five three-pointers in the win over DePaul. Those 15 points contributed to his team-leading 24 on the afternoon.
 
EFFICIENT AFTERNOON: Kamar Baldwin's 18 points at DePaul included a perfect 8-for-8 performance from the free throw line in addition to making five of six shots from the field. Baldwin has scored 14 or more points in each of the team's BIG EAST contests.
 
2-3 PUNCH: Kelan Martin and Kamar Baldwin hold the second and third spots in scoring during BIG EAST play. Martin is second with an average of 22.5 points per game, followed by Baldwin at 21.1. Marquette's Markus Howard leads the conference at 22.6.
 
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 4-6 away from its home court, averaging 70.1 ppg on 41-percent shooting.
 
50 OR BETTER: Including Saturday's win at DePaul, Butler is now 12-0 when shooting a better field goal percentage than its opponent and 11-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field.
 
AT THE LINE: The Bulldogs made 21 of 25 attempts at the free throw line Saturday at DePaul, which included an 8-of-8 performance from Kamar Baldwin. On the year, Butler is shooting 76.2 percent at the charity stripe. That strong number is only fourth in the BIG EAST, but is 28^th nationally. Kelan Martin (85.5 percent) is sixth in the conference.
 
TAKE A FEW DAYS: Butler's loss at Providence Jan. 15 ended a stretch that saw the Bulldogs play four games in 10 days. The Bulldogs have been able to get some rest as Saturday's game with St. John's will only be the second for the team over the past 12 days. The seven days between the DePaul and St. John's game is one of two seven-day breaks during BIG EAST play (the second is Feb. 20-28).
 
TIGHT GRIP: In eight BIG EAST games, Butler has committed only 76 turnovers (an average of 9.5 per game). That figure leads the conference. For the entire season, the Bulldogs are only committing 11.3 turnovers per game. That mark is second in the BIG EAST and 27^th nationally. The three turnovers against Marquette Jan. 12 were Butler's lowest total since the Bulldogs also committed only three miscues against Creighton on January 14, 2014.
 
'BIG' EAST PLAY: Kamar Baldwin has three career games where he has scored 25 or more points. All three of those have come since BIG EAST play began Dec. 27 (a total of eight games). In addition to 25 points Jan. 15 at Providence, Baldwin had a career-high 31 points at Georgetown Dec. 27 and 28 points at Xavier Jan. 2.
 
CAREER NIGHT: Senior Kelan Martin scored a career-best 37 points in the Jan. 12 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 earned BIG EAST Player of the Week honors following his career night against Marquette, his third weekly honor of the season and the seventh of his career.
 
ON THE GLASS: Kamar Baldwin has pulled down five or more rebounds in 11 straight games. That includes nine Saturday at DePaul, which matched his season-high. In conference play, Baldwin is averaging 6.8 rebounds per game, a mark that leads the team and is eighth in the BIG EAST.
 
HANDING THEM OUT: Aaron Thompson handed out a career-high eight assists Saturday at DePaul. It topped his previous career-best mark of six, which he had done twice (at Maryland and vs. Youngstown State). Thompson has registered four or more assists in 12 games so far during his freshman season. Thompson's average of 3.8 assists per game is ninth in the conference.
 
EFFICIENCY PERSONIFIED: Senior Tyler Wideman leads the BIG EAST in field goal percentage, connecting on 68.2 percent of his attempts so far this season. Wideman has been consistently efficient as well. In his 20 games played, there have only been three times when Wideman has connected on fewer than 50 percent of his attempts.
 
BUILDING A RESUME: Butler has four 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 and Marquette (four additional wins are against teams ranked between No. 101 and 120). Six of Butler's seven losses have come against teams ranked in the KenPom Top 40 (and Providence is ranked No. 54). KenPom ranks Butler at No. 35 nationally. KenPom rankings are through the games of Thursday, Jan. 25.
 
TOUGH COMPETITION: Through the games of Wednesday, Jan. 17, Butler's schedule is viewed as the seventh-toughest nationally by KenPom.com.
 
KEYS TO THE GAME: In Butler's 14 wins, the Bulldogs have gotten to the line more than their opponents (262-240), have out-rebounded foes by an average of 35.4-29.9, and have seen Paul Jorgensen and Tyler Wideman combine for an average of 24.7 points per game. In the team's seven losses, opponents have gotten to the line 158 times compared to only 87 for Butler. Opponents have also out-rebounded Butler by an average of 37.0-34.0. Jorgensen and Wideman combine for 13.3 points per game in the team's losses.