GAME 18:  Butler (7-10, 6-8 BIG EAST) at Georgetown (5-10, 3-7 BIG EAST)
Saturday, Feb. 13;  1:30PM
McDonough Arena;  Washington, D.C.
TV:  CBS Sports Network - Andrew Catalon & Steve Lappas
Radio:  107.5FM/93.5FM/1070AM - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
TuneIn Radio App, XM 389, SiriusXM Internet 979
@ButlerMBB  |  #ButlerWay  |  ButlerSports.com
 
Full Notes (PDF)

The Bulldogs head to the nation's capital for a Saturday afternoon match-up with Georgetown.
 
THE SERIES: Georgetown leads the all-time series between the two programs, 9-8. However, both teams have been particularly good on the road as Butler holds a 5-2 advantage in games played in Washington, D.C. That includes five straight road wins. Butler won the first match-up between the two teams this season, 63-55, Jan. 6 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
 
Georgetown Leads, 9-8
Streak: Butler, W1
At Georgetown: Butler Leads, 5-2
LaVall Jordan (at BU) vs. GU: 4-3
First Meeting: Georgetown, 72-65; 12/8/09
(Jimmy V Classic; Madison Square Garden)
Last Meeting: Butler, 63-55, 1/6/21 (at Hinkle)
 
• Butler is 6-3 at Hinkle this season, including 5-2 in BIG EAST play.
• Butler is 5-2 all-time against Georgetown in Washington, D.C.
• Butler's 76-73 overtime win over St. John's Tuesday included overcoming a 16-point deficit.
• The Bulldogs had a season-best 46 points in the paint vs. St. John's.
• Aaron Thompson had a season-high 10 assists vs. St. John's; both he and Bryce Nze posted double-doubles in the contest.
• In Butler's 63-55 win over Georgetown Jan. 6 at Hinkle, Chuck Harris led the Bulldogs with 18 points.
• Butler is allowing only 66.8 points per game in conference play, which is second in the BIG EAST.
• Nze had 22 points Saturday against DePaul, his highest total in a Butler uniform; it included a career-high three three-pointers.
• Harris matched his career-high with 22 points against DePaul.
• Freshmen have scored 34 percent of Butler's points so far this season; newcomers have produced 56 percent of the scoring output.
• Bo Hodges has pulled down a total of 36 rebounds in his four games in a Butler uniform (9.0 per game average).
• Nze is third in the BIG EAST at 8.0 rebounds per game.
• Jair Bolden is third in the BIG EAST at 2.7 three-pointers per game.
• Nze went over 1,000 career points in the Feb. 2 game at Marquette; Bolden currently stands at 976 career points.
• Butler has committed single-digit turnovers in seven games this season.
• Averaging only 11.2 turnovers per game, Butler is 36th nationally.
• Seven different Bulldogs have led the team in scoring this season; five different Bulldogs have posted 20-point games.
• Myles Tate posted his first career double-double (15p/10r) vs. Creighton Jan. 16.
• With 438 assists, Aaron Thompson is now sixth on Butler's career list.
• No. 8 Creighton is the highest-ranked opponent Butler has beaten since a 101-93 win over No. 1 Villanova, Dec. 30, 2017.
 
FIRST TIME AROUND: Butler limited Georgetown to 34-percent shooting in the Jan. 6 win, which included holding the Hoyas to a 7-of-29 performance from the field in the second half (24 percent). Jahvon Blair entered the game as the BIG EAST's fourth-leading scorer at 19.0 points per game. Butler, keyed by the return of guard Aaron Thompson, held Blair to 11 points on 4-of-16 shooting. 
 
A Hoya basket with 4:29 remaining gave Georgetown a 55-53 lead. Butler held the Hoyas scoreless the rest of the way in taking a 63-55 win. That closing 10-0 run proved to be the difference. Overall, Butler forced Georgetown misses on 13 of their final 14 attempts from the field.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Butler's Aaron Thompson and Bryce Nze posted double-doubles, leading the Bulldogs to a clutch 76-73 overtime win over St. John's Tuesday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
 
Thompson had 17 points, including the basket with two seconds remaining in regulation that sent the game to overtime, to go along with 10 assists. Nze had a game-high 19 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Bulldogs overcame a 16-point deficit. Butler was able to end the Red Storm's six-game winning streak.
 
Thompson and Nze are the first Bulldogs to post double-doubles in the same game since the same duo accomplished the feat Nov. 9, 2019 in a home win over New Orleans.
 
CALL IT A COMEBACK: Four of Butler's seven wins have included a double-digit comeback. Tuesday's 16-point comeback against St. John's is joined by three earlier ones in BIG EAST play. (12 vs. DePaul, Feb. 6; 13 vs. Creighton, Jan. 16; and 11 vs. Georgetown, Jan. 6).
 
The 16-point recovery against St. John's was Butler's biggest comeback since erasing a 20-point deficit at Georgetown Dec. 27, 2017, taking a 91-89 double-overtime win. The Bulldogs also came back to win at Georgetown last year on the road after being down 14 points.
 
2 FOR 20: Bryce Nze and Chuck Harris each scored 22 points in Saturday's home win over DePaul. For Nze, it set his high mark in a Butler uniform (he has a career-high of 25 points from his time at Milwaukee), while Harris tied his career-high set earlier this season against Southern Illinois. The duo combined for seven three-pointers.
 
Nze and Harris are the first Butler duo to score 20 points in the same game since Kamar Baldwin (30) and Jordan Tucker (24) did so against St. John's, Jan. 19, 2019.
 
INSTANT IMPACT: Bo Hodges had an appeal of a waiver for immediate eligibility approved by the NCAA prior to the Bulldogs' Jan. 30 game with Xavier. In just his second game (and his first start) for Butler, Hodges set career-highs with 12 rebounds and eight assists to go along with 15 points, narrowly missing a triple-double Feb. 2 at Marquette.
 
'BOARD' OUT OF HIS MIND: Redshirt senior Bryce Nze is third in the BIG EAST in rebounding at 8.0 caroms per game. Nze pulled down 14 rebounds Jan. 19 at DePaul, his second time in three outings hitting that mark (also at St. John's Jan. 12). It is his highest total in a Butler uniform (although he had 17 in a game while playing at Milwaukee). He has six games with 10 or more rebounds this season.
 
HANDLE WITH CARE: Butler is second in the BIG EAST and 36th nationally, averaging only 11.2 turnovers per game. Butler had only six turnovers against Xavier Jan. 30, one of the team's seven single-digit turnover outputs this season. The six turnovers matched the team's season-low. The Bulldogs turned the ball over only seven times in 45 minutes of play in the Jan. 16 win over Creighton.
 
Butler has committed 10 or fewer turnovers in 54 of the 116 games that LaVall Jordan has been head coach at Butler.
 
FIGHT IN THE DAWG: Butler overcame a 13-point deficit with less than eight minutes to play, pulling out a gritty 70-66 overtime win over No. 8 Creighton Jan. 16 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
 
For Butler, No. 8 Creighton is the highest-ranked opponent Butler has beaten since a 101-93 win over No. 1 Villanova, Dec. 30, 2017.
 
Creighton unleashed a 26-3 run early in the second half to erase a seven-point Butler halftime lead and ultimately take a 51-38 advantage with 11:28 to play. At that point in the second half, Butler was 1-of-14 from the field, while the Bluejays hit 11 of their first 13 attempts. A Denzel Mahoney free throw had the CU advantage at 13 again (58-45) with 7:38 to play. Butler closed regulation on a 17-4 run to send the game to overtime.
 
YOUNG GUNS: The highest-rated recruiting class in Butler history has lived up to the billing so far. Chuck Harris, Myles Tate and JaKobe Coles (who is out for the remainder of the season with a meniscus injury) have each led the team in scoring in a game so far this season. In a six-point game midway through the second half at No. 7 Villanova Dec. 16, coach LaVall Jordan employed a line-up of his four freshmen alongside John-Michael Mulloy, who played a total of 76 minutes as a freshman last season.
 
Harris has a pair of 22-point performances and is third among BIG EAST true freshmen  in scoring (trailing only Marquette's Dawson Garcia and Posh Alexander of St. John's.)
 
Harris was  named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week by the conference office Dec. 28. Harris is the third Bulldog to earn Freshman of the Week honors since the Bulldogs joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 season. He joins Kelan Martin (final week of the 2014-15 regular season) and Kamar Baldwin (twice during the 2016-17 season) on that list.
 
Tate posted a career-high 10 rebounds in his first career double-double Jan. 16 vs. Creighton. It was his second time leading the team in rebounding, as he had eight boards in the win over Providence Dec. 23. Tate recorded a career-high 22 points Jan. 2 at Seton Hall. His output included a career-best five three-pointers.