With an 84-53 win over Middle Tennessee on Thanksgiving Night, the Bulldogs advanced to meet Florida in Friday's Battle 4 Atlantis fifth-place game. The 9:30 p.m. tip will air on ESPNU. Mark Minner and Nick Gardner will also have the call on 1430 AM and the TuneIn Radio app.

The Bulldogs and Gators have met three times previously, each time in the NCAA Tournament. Butler defeated Florida, 74-71, in the 2011 Elite Eight. The Gators won a 2007 Sweet 16 contest (65-57) and a 2000 First Round meeting (69-68). The 2011 and 2000 games each went to overtime. A member of the Butler staff (LaVall Jordan in 2000, Brandon Crone in 2007, and Emerson Kampen in 2011) were on those Butler teams.
 
Butler and Florida are also scheduled to play Dec. 29 in Gainesville, Fla., in the first match-up of a home-and-home series that will have the Gators return the game at Hinkle Fieldhouse during the 2019-20 season.

The Bulldogs, 4-1 on the season, look to leave Atlantis with a 2-1 mark in the 2018 event, which would match the team's record from its first appearance in the Battle 4 Atlantis (2014). Florida enters Friday's game with a 3-2 record. In Atlantis, the Gators lost to Oklahoma and then defeated Stanford Thursday night.

Sean McDermott set a career-high with 21 points on seven three-pointers in the Thanksgiving Night win over Middle Tennessee. He had 18 Wednesday night in the loss to Dayton, which was his previous career-high. His seven three-pointers tied the Battle 4 Atlantis single-game record, which was set by Wisconsin's D'Mitrik Trice earlier in the day Thursday. Trice's father, Travis, played at Butler (1993-95).

Entering the Battle 4 Atlantis, McDermott had scored a total of 19 points in the team's first three games.

Butler hit 16 three-pointers, which also set a Battle 4 Atlantis single-game record (previously held by UMass in a 2011 game against Utah). The 16 three-pointers were the most by Butler since the Bulldogs hit 15 in a Dec. 30, 2017 home win over No. 1 Villanova (101-93).

Kamar Baldwin had 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. After playing 39 minutes in the loss to Dayton Wednesday, Baldwin was only called upon for 23 minutes Thursday night with the game out of reach.

Baldwin enters Friday's game with Florida just eight points shy of becoming the 40^th Bulldog to register 1,000 career points. Baldwin has 120 career steals, just two shy of tenth place on Butler's all-time list. On the season, Baldwin leads the Bulldogs in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. He is one block shy of the team-lead.
 
Paul Jorgensen scored 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting against Middle Tennessee, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. He matched McDermott for the team lead. It marks Jorgensen's third straight game leading the Bulldogs in scoring, after 18 points against Dayton and registering career-highs with 27 points and six three-pointers in Friday's win over Ole Miss. Jorgensen's 19.0 points per game trail only Baldwin (19.8).

Butler forced Middle Tennessee into 20 turnovers, converting those into 28 points. Eight of the 10 Bulldogs who dressed for the contest registered at least one steal. Butler had 12 steals total. Butler's defense also limited the Blue Raiders to 32-percent shooting.

Butler committed only 10 turnovers Thursday night against Middle Tennessee, the same number of miscues against Dayton Wednesday. The Bulldogs are averaging only 10.6 miscues per game this season.
 
Butler is shooting exactly 50 percent (144-288) on the season.