Butler (7-4, 0-0 BIG EAST) at St. John's (8-3, 1-0 BIG EAST)
Thursday, Dec. 23;  6:30PM 
Carnesecca Arena; Queens, N.Y.
TV:  FS1 - @NoahEagle15 & Casey Jacobsen (@cjacobsen23)
Radio:  1430AM - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
Varsity Network Radio App, XM385, SiriusXM App 975
 
Full Notes
 
The Bulldogs open BIG EAST play Thursday night in Queens, N.Y., with a match-up against St. John's.
 
The Red Storm were scheduled to play Seton Hall Monday, but that game was canceled due to COVID issues within the Pirates program.
 
Both Butler and St. John's are coming off Saturday losses in games played without their leading scorers. The Bulldogs lost to No. 3 Purdue without Chuck Harris, while St. John's dropped a contest to Pittsburgh without Julian Champagnie.
 
THE SERIES: Butler owns a 10-7 advantage in the all-time series with St. John's. All but one of those games (a 1958 meeting in the NIT) have come since Butler joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 season. The Bulldogs have won three of the last four meetings. In the last meeting (Feb. 9, 2021 at Hinkle Fieldhouse), Butler erased a 16-point SJU lead to win 76-73 in overtime.
 
Butler Leads, 10-7
Streak: Butler, W1
At St. John's: St. John's Leads, 5-3
LaVall Jordan (at BU) vs. SJU: 5-3
First Meeting: St. John's, 78-68; 3/13/58 (NIT)
Last Meeting: Butler, 76-73 (OT), 2/9/21 (at Hinkle)
 
This is the third time in nine BIG EAST seasons that Butler's first conference game has been a road game at St. John's (Dec. 31, 2019 and Dec. 29, 2016). The Bulldogs also played at St. John's in their second game of the 2014-15 season (Jan. 3, 2015).
 
• Over the past five games, Bryce Golden is averaging 15.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, shooting 67 percent from the field.
• Aaron Thompson is third on Butler's career assists list (490); LaVall Jordan's college teammate Thomas Jackson is No. 1 with 540 career assists.
• Butler is allowing only 60.0 points per game so far this season, a mark that is 34th nationally.
• Golden tied his career-high with 20 points vs. Eastern Illinois Dec. 11.
• Golden's 59.7 field goal percentage is third in the BIG EAST.
• Ty Groce scored his 1,000th career point in the Dec. 11 win over Eastern Illinois.
• Thompson posted the fourth double-double of his career in the win over EIU Dec. 11.
• Myles Tate (torn ACL 3/11) saw his first game action of the 2021-22 season in the Dec. 11 game vs. EIU.
• Butler owned a 43-30 rebounding advantage in the win at Oklahoma Dec. 7.
• Chuck Harris scored a season-high 26 points in the Dec. 7 win at Oklahoma.
• Butler committed a season-low seven turnovers against Purdue Saturday.
• Freshman DJ Hughes had career-highs of six points and six rebounds at Oklahoma Dec. 7 in a career-best 23 minutes.
• Jayden Taylor scored a career-best 21 points in Nov. 24 win over Chaminade.
• Butler made 12 three-pointers Nov. 13 vs. Troy, the most by the team since hitting 12 against Nebraska in the 2019 NIT.
• Butler was picked to finish sixth in the BIG EAST Preseason Poll by the conference's head coaches.
• Sophomore Chuck Harris was an honorable mention selection to the Preseason All-BIG EAST team by the conference's head coaches.
• Butler's 2021-22 roster includes six players who are entering their fifth or sixth season of college basketball.
• The Bulldogs return 10 of their 11 top scorers from a season ago.
• Butler's roster returns 97.2 percent of its scoring and 96.2 percent of its minutes played from last season.
 
QUITE THE BATTLE: As part of the annual BIG EAST-Big 12 Battle, the Bulldogs picked up a 66-62 overtime road win Dec. 7 at Oklahoma. Chuck Harris led the Bulldogs with 26 points. Butler trailed by 10 points at the half and by 13 early in the second half before clawing all the way back. After Oklahoma forced overtime with a three-pointer with two seconds remaining in regulation, the Sooners took a 62-58 lead in overtime before Butler scored the game's final eight points.
 
TOUGH SLATE: In addition to a true round-robin format that has Butler playing all 10 BIG EAST foes both on the road and at home, the Bulldogs challenged themselves significantly with this season's non-conference schedule.
 
Butler's non-conference opponents include three of the top 13 teams in this week's AP poll (No. 3 Purdue -- Crossroads Classic, No. 11 Michigan State -- Gavitt Games, and No. 13 Houston -- Maui Invitational in Las Vegas). Oklahoma, Butler's BIG EAST-Big 12 Battle opponent, is just outside of this week's AP poll in the 26th position. Texas A&M, another Maui Invitational opponent, is 8-2.
 
HOME SWEET HINKLE: Butler is 53-15 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in LaVall Jordan's five seasons as head coach of the Bulldogs.
 
The Bulldogs have won 64 of their last 66 games at Hinkle Fieldhouse against non-conference opponents.
 
ON THE WAY: Connor Turnbull, a 6-10 forward/center from Missouri, has signed a national letter of intent to join the Bulldogs beginning with the 2022-23 season.
 
Turnbull, from Saint Paul, Mo., stars for Fort Zumwalt North High School, where he earned Missouri Basketball Coaches Association All-State honors for Class 6. As a junior, Turnbull averaged 14.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.0 blocks per game, leading the team to a 27-4 record and the Class 6 state semifinals. He shot 34 percent from three-point range. Turnbull helped Brad Beal Elite to a runner-up finish at the 2021 Peach Jam as part of the Nike EYBL circuit.
 
BULLDOGS ANNOUNCED AS PART OF 2022 BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS FIELD: The Bulldogs will participate in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis for the third time as the 2022 bracket has been announced. Celebrating its 11th year of elite collegiate tournament play, the 2022 field will include Butler, BYU, Dayton, Kansas, North Carolina State, USC, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. Butler was previously part of the Battle 4 Atlantis field in both 2014 and 2018. The Bulldogs went 2-1 in each event.
 
HAPPY RETURNS: Butler returns 10 of its top 11 scorers from last season. In all, Butler's roster returns 97.2 percent of its scoring and 96.2 percent of minutes played from the 2020-21 season. Butler returns five double-digit scorers from a season ago and adds Ty Groce, a graduate transfer from Eastern Michigan. Groce led the Eagles in scoring last season, the sixth player on the Butler roster to average double figures in 2020-21. Butler has six players who will play their fifth season of college basketball during the upcoming campaign -- Aaron Thompson, Bryce Nze, Jair Bolden, Christian David, Bo Hodges, and Ty Groce. Of that group, Nze, Bolden and Groce are in their sixth year of college after previously redshirting and now taking advantage of the additional season of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.