The Bulldogs shot 56 percent from the field in taking an 80-61 win over Wofford Saturday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The match-up was a campus game as part of the 2019 Hall of Fame Classic.
Senior
Kamar Baldwin paced the Bulldogs with 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Baldwin added seven rebounds and five assists. He had 27 points in Tuesday night's win over Minnesota.
The Bulldogs are now 4-0 on the season. Saturday night marked the fourth consecutive game with the Bulldogs committing single-digit turnovers as the team had only eight miscues against 19 assists.
Aaron Thompson led the Bulldogs with seven assists.
"Wofford is a really good team and a really good program," said Butler coach LaVall Jordan. "They share the ball really well. I'm proud of my group for how they responded to this challenge. We knew Wofford wouldn't quit and we knew they had a run in them. When that happened, our seniors led us to five straight stops to get our cushion back."
Much of Butler's initial cushion came due to a 16-3 run to close the first half. That gave the Bulldogs a 44-27 halftime advantage.
Wofford came into Saturday's contest averaging 84.7 points per game and 12.7 three-pointers per outing. That offensive firepower began to show in the second half as the Terriers made 10 of their first 15 shots after intermission to pull within 67-57 with 7:20 to play. That is when the Bulldogs buckled down and got those stops, scoring the next 10 points to put the game out of reach at 77-57. That 20-point advantage was the largest of the game.
Butler limited Wofford to a 5-of-27 performance from behind the arc. The Terriers shot 39 percent from the field.
The Bulldogs had balance behind Baldwin's 23 points as seven players scored at least seven points.
Bryce Nze had 12 points, while
Sean McDermott added 10. McDermott tied Baldwin with a game-high seven rebounds. Freshman
Khalif Battle came off the bench for nine points, followed by
Bryce Golden (eight), Thompson (eight), and
Jordan Tucker (seven). Butler made 16 of their 19 attempts at the line.
Storm Murphy led Wofford with 19 points.
The Bulldogs return to action Friday, hosting Morehead State at Hinkle Fieldhouse in another on-campus game as part of the Hall of Fame Classic. The team then heads to Kansas City for a pair of games Nov. 25 and 26.
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