The Bulldogs open postseason play Saturday night in Omaha, Neb., with a BIG EAST quarterfinal match-up against Creighton. The 8 p.m. (Eastern, 7 p.m. Central) tip will stream live on the BIG EAST Digital Network through YouTube, Caffeine and Twitter.

Butler is the No. 5 seed in the tournament, while Creighton enters as the No. 4 seed. Only the top six teams in the BIG EAST qualify for the postseason tournament. The Bulldogs guaranteed their spot in the field with a win over Xavier Wednesday in the regular season finale.

The Bulldogs are 10-6-1 on the season, and finished 4-4-1 in BIG EAST play. Creighton enters the contest at 8-6-2 (4-4-1). The seeding tiebreaker between the two teams was a 2-1 (2OT) by the Bluejays over Butler Saturday. That gave Creighton the No. 4 seed and the opportunity to host the match. The BIG EAST Tournament tip will be exactly one week (to the minute) since the teams met in Omaha for that regular season match-up.

The winner of Saturday's quarterfinal will travel to top-seeded Georgetown for a Wednesday semifinal.

Butler has qualified for the BIG EAST Tournament in five of its seven seasons as a member of the BIG EAST.

All 10 of the BIG EAST's programs are ranked among the Top 77 spots nationally in this week's NCAA RPI metric. Georgetown holds the No. 1 spot, followed by No. 4 St. John's. Butler is the BIG EAST's fourth team in the rankings, coming in at No. 32 this week. 

THE SERIES: Creighton owns an 8-2-1 record in the all-time series, including a 4-0-1 advantage in matches played in Omaha. Butler two wins include a 3-2 overtime victory in the 2017 BIG EAST opener as well as a 2-1 win in the 2016 BIG EAST Tournament championship match. The 2016 match is the only meeting between the two programs in the postseason.

ONE WEEK AGO: Butler dropped a 2-1 decision to Creighton Saturday night in double overtime. Jake Ashford scored the golden goal for Creighton in the 105^th minute, collecting a rebound that ultimately resulted from a corner kick. It was Ashford's first goal of the season. The game-winner by Ashford was the first goal since the 26^th minute when the Bluejays tied the match on a Yudai Tashiro score.

Butler took an early lead as sophomore Griffin DeBolt scored in the fourth minute of the match to give Butler a 1-0 lead.

LAST TIME OUT: Butler pulled out an important 2-1 win over Xavier Wednesday afternoon at the Sellick Bowl in Indianapolis in the teams' regular season finale.
  
Brandon Guhl and Wilmer Cabrera, Jr. were the Bulldog goal scorers in the victory. Guhl scored his eighth goal of the season in the eighth minute off an assist from Alex Lehtinen.
 
A Xavier equalizer came in the 32^nd minute from Samson Sergi.
 
The game-winning goal came off a double assist that started with Lehtinen pushing the ball up the far sideline in front of the team benches. Lehtinen got the ball up-field to Guhl with some room to run. Guhl would send a ball back inside to Cabrera, Jr. The freshman collected possession and would finish in the back of the net in the 52nd minute.

OF NOTE:

• Saturday night was Butler's sixth overtime contest of the season, and only one of those games has ended in a draw. The Bulldogs now have 3-2-1 record in those games.
• Butler is 7-2-1 at home in 2019.
• DeBolt's goal at Creighton was his second of the season and the second of his career. He missed Butler's regular season finale against Xavier on Wednesday due to accumulated yellow cards.
• Butler keeper Gabriel Gjergji made six saves in the loss at Creighton Saturday night. Gjergji has five shutouts on the season and his 4.35 saves per game are tied for fourth in the BIG EAST.
• Guhl leads the Bulldogs and is fourth in the BIG EAST with 19 points. Wilmer Cabrera, Jr. is sixth in the BIG EAST with 17 points.
• Guhl's eight goals are tied for third in the BIG EAST; Cabrera, Jr., with seven, is tied for fifth.
• Guhl now has 28 career goals in his three seasons in a Butler uniform (he spent his freshman campaign at SMU). Those 28 goals are tied for 14^th in the NCAA among active players, and the mark is tied for eighth in Butler program history.
• Jack Haywood is tied for the BIG EAST lead with seven assists. That mark is tied for 32nd nationally.
• Cabrera, Jr.'s five game-winning goals are tied for the BIG EAST lead and tied for fifth in the NCAA.
• Ten Bulldogs have found the net in 2019; 13 have scored points during the campaign.
• The Oct. 23 loss at Marquette ended a five-match unbeaten streak (4-0-1) for Butler. The Bulldogs had not lost since Sept. 28.
• The Oct. 19 win at Seton Hall was Butler's first four-goal game since a 4-3 (OT) win over Marshall Sept. 26, 2018.
• After scoring the first two goals of his career in the Oct. 4 win over Providence, Brendan Hicks earned BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors Oct. 7.
• The Bulldogs played three consecutive Top 10 opponents earlier this season. That included BIG EAST losses to Georgetown and St. John's, sandwiched around a 2-1 win over (then) No. 5 Indiana.
• Butler limited Wisconsin to only four shots in the win Sept. 12; it marked the fewest shots allowed by Butler since an Oct. 12, 2012 match against Richmond when the Spiders were also held to just four shots.