GAME 31: rv/rv Bulldogs (19-11, 9-8 BIG EAST) at Seton Hall (20-10, 9-8)
Saturday, March 3  |  8 p.m. ET  
Newark, N.J.  |  Prudential Center
TV: CBS Sports Network  |  Rich Waltz & Jordan Cornette
Radio: 107.5 FM, 1070 AM & TuneIn Radio App  |  @MarkMinner & @n_gardner 
@ButlerMBB  |  ButlerSports.com

Full Notes (PDF)

THE SERIES: Butler and Seton Hall will meet for the 11th time with all match-ups coming since the Bulldogs joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 season. Butler has a 7-3 lead in the series. The Pirates have won the two most recent meetings, including a 90-87 win over the Bulldogs Jan. 6 at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Seton Hall's other win came in the 2014 BIG EAST Tournament. Butler is 4-0 in games played at the Prudential Center against Seton Hall.
 
• Kelan Martin is averaging 18.4 points per game in his last five games against Seton Hall, including two double-doubles.
• Martin leads the BIG EAST at 22.9 points per game in conference play. Martin has scored 20 or more points in 11 of the Bulldogs' 17 BIG EAST contests.
• Tyler Wideman made the 100^th start of his career Wednesday night at St. John's.   
• Wideman leads the BIG EAST with a 67.5-percent field goal percentage. He is on pace to break Butler's single-season and career marks.
• Butler is now 17-0 this season when shooting a better field goal percentage than its opponent.
• Butler is 13-1 this season when allowing its opponent less than 70 points.
• Butler will enter the BIG EAST Tournament as the No. 3, 4, 5, or 6 seed based on Saturday's results.
• Butler has hit 10 or more three-pointers in seven of its last 10 games.
• Paul Jorgensen has averaged 15.3 points per game over the team's last three contests.
 
SETTING THE SCENE: Butler closes the regular season Saturday night at Seton Hall. The Bulldogs and Pirates are two of the three BIG EAST teams currently tied with a 9-8 conference record.
 
TOURNAMENT IMPLICATIONS: None of the 10 seeds for the upcoming BIG EAST Tournament have been solidified despite each team having only one game remaining. Butler has secured a first-round bye and will open the BIG EAST Tournament in one of the Thursday quarterfinal match-ups. The Bulldogs will finish no worse than the No. 6 seed and could earn the No. 3 seed based on Saturday scenarios.
 
Scenarios:
Butler is 3 seed: Butler win (at Seton Hall), Creighton loss (at Marquette), Providence loss (vs. St. John's)
Butler is 4 seed: Multiple scenarios exist but must include a Butler win
Butler is 5 seed: Multiple scenarios exist with a Butler win or a Butler loss
Butler is 6 seed: Butler loss (at Seton Hall), Providence win (vs. St. John's), Marquette loss (vs. Creighton)
Butler owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Marquette, which is why Butler cannot finish lower than the No. 6 seed. If Butler, Providence and Marquette all end up at 9-9 following Saturday's results, Butler would be the No. 5 seed based off a combined 3-1 record against Providence and Marquette.
 
FIRST TIME AROUND: No. 21 Seton Hall erased an 11-point second-half deficit and came away with a 90-87 win over Butler Jan. 6 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Sixteen of Khadeen Carrington's 29 points came in the final 10 minutes of the game after Butler took its largest lead of the contest at 65-54 with 9:57 to play. A 16-3 Pirates run gave the visitors a 70-68 lead with 6:33 to play, Seton Hall's first advantage since an early 10-8 lead.
 
Kelan Martin had 27 points for Butler. He made all seven of his free throw attempts as the Bulldogs went 25-of-28 as a team. Martin was one of four Bulldogs in double figures, joining Kamar Baldwin (14), Henry Baddley (14), and Nate Fowler (11).

Seton Hall's three-headed monster of Carrington, Angel Delgado and Desi Rodriguez combined for 76 of the team's 90 points.
 
LAST TIME OUT: St. John's took a 75-68 double-overtime victory over Butler Wednesday night in Queens, N.Y. Justin Simon (24), Bashir Ahmed (22) and Marvin Clark II (20) combined for 66 of the Red Storm's 75 points.

A Kelan Martin runner in the lane gave Butler a 58-53 lead with 17.1 seconds to play in regulation. Clark quickly countered with a three-pointer. Following a Butler turnover, Simon was able to get to the rim and tie the game. A Butler miss at the horn pushed the game to overtime.

In the first overtime, St. John's took a six-point lead with 2:21 to play, but Kamar Baldwin tied things up with a three-pointer and three free throws as he was fouled on an attempt with 48 seconds to play. A St. John's turnover and a miss by each team sent the game to double-overtime.

In the second and deciding overtime, St. John's scored the final nine points to win, 75-68. Butler didn't score again after leading 68-66 with 2:49 to play.

SENIOR MOMENTS: Senior Kelan Martin leads the BIG EAST in scoring in conference games at 22.9 points per contest. His conference games-only scoring trails only Trae Young (Oklahoma/Big 12) and Jerome Robinson (Boston College/ACC) among players from the top-ranked seven conferences nationally (BIG EAST, Big 12, ACC, Big Ten, SEC, Pac-12, American). Martin has posted 20+ points in 18 games this season, including 11 of the team's 17 BIG EAST contests.
 
Martin has 1,926 career points, which puts him in the No. 5 spot on Butler's career scoring list. He has amassed more than 1,000 points in his 71 career BIG EAST games. He is one of only 42 players who have scored 1,000 career points in regular season BIG EAST games. His 207 career three-pointers are sixth on Butler's career list.
 
Martin is the first Bulldog with back-to-back 30-point scoring performances (vs. Xavier and Villanova, Feb. 6 and Feb. 10) since Matthew Graves in 1997-98. Martin's career-high 37 points against Marquette Jan. 12 were the most by a Bulldog since Graves scored 42 against Cleveland State on Jan. 15, 1998.
 
For the second consecutive season, Martin has been named one of 10 finalists for the Julius Erving Award, which is presented annually to the nation's top small forward.
 
At 20.7 points per game, Martin is on pace for the highest single-season scoring average since Darin Archbold averaged 24.8 in 1991-92.

WELCOME HOME: Paul Jorgensen had 17 points Wednesday night at St. John's in a return home for the New York native. Jorgensen went 7-of-14 from the field, adding five rebounds, three assists and three steals. It marked his third consecutive game in double figures since moving back to a reserve role for the Providence game Feb. 17. The redshirt junior has scored in double figures 18 times this season, including a career-high 23 in the win over Villanova Dec. 30.
 
Butler's bench outscored its counterparts from St. John's, 32-0, Wednesday night. That came one game after Butler's bench scored 43 points in the win over Creighton. Against Creighton Feb. 20, Jorgensen (17 points), Nate Fowler (season-high 15 points) and Henry Baddley (nine points) combined to go 7-of-9 from three-point range.
 
GRAB AND GO: The Bulldogs had 13 steals against St. John's Wednesday night, which contributed to the Red Storm's 24 turnovers. Sean McDermott had a career-high four steals, while Jorgensen and Aaron Thompson each had three (each tying their career-high). Butler's 13 steals did not include a swipe from Kamar Baldwin. The sophomore has a team-best 49 steals on the season; his average of 1.6 steals per game is fourth in the BIG EAST.
 
PUTTING THE D IN DAWGS: Butler has limited its last three opponents to an average of 66.3 points. That includes holding Creighton to 70 points Feb. 20, 15.4 points below the Bluejays' season average entering the game against Butler. The 54 points by Providence Feb. 17 were the second-lowest of the season for a Butler opponent in BIG EAST play. Providence scored only 19 points in the second half while shooting 16 percent (5-32).

Butler is 13-1 this season when allowing its opponent less than 70 points.
 
BEHIND THE ARC: The Bulldogs went 14-of-26 from three-point range in the win over Creighton Feb. 20. Butler hit 10 or more three-pointers 10 times this season, with seven of those coming in the team's last 10 games. The Bulldogs have shot 40 percent or better from behind the arc 11 times this season; six of those have come in the team's last 10 games.
 
HOME, SWEET HINKLE: Butler finished the home portion of its schedule with a 14-3 mark. At Hinkle Fieldhouse this season, the Bulldogs averaged 86.0 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the field. Butler reached 80 points in 14 of the 17 games. Butler is averaging 72.0 ppg on 42-percent shooting away from Hinkle.
 
Butler hit 80 points for the 16^th time this season with the 93-70 win over Creighton in the team's most recent game. The Bulldogs are now 13-3 when scoring 80 or more.
 
TOPPING THE CHARTS: Tyler Wideman leads the BIG EAST in field goal percentage in both all games (.675) and in conference play (.667).
 
SMART DAWG: Butler junior Nate Fowler has been selected to the 2017-18 CoSIDA Academic All-District Team. Fowler is one of five honorees for the district that includes Division I universities based in the states of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan. The 2017-18 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District® Men's Basketball Team recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom. Fowler carries a 3.56 GPA in Butler's Mechanical Engineering and Economics dual degree program.