GAME 19: Butler (7-11, 6-9 BIG EAST) vs. Marquette (9-12, 5-10 BIG EAST)
Wednesday, Feb. 17; 6:30PM
Hinkle Fieldhouse; Indianapolis, Ind.
TV: FS1 - Alex Faust & Casey Jacobsen
Radio: 1430AM - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
TuneIn Radio App, XM 384, SiriusXM Internet 974
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Full Notes (PDF)
• Butler is 6-3 at Hinkle this season, including 5-2 in BIG EAST play.
• Wednesday's game with Marquette begins a stretch that has the Bulldogs at home for three of their next four games.
•
Aaron Thompson has posted back-to-back games with double-digit assists.
• Marquette won the first meeting between the two teams, 70-67, Feb. 2 in Milwaukee.
• In that game, Butler erased an 18-point deficit with 12 minutes remaining to have a tying three-point attempt in the air as time expired.
• In his second game in a Butler uniform,
Bo Hodges had 15 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in the match-up against Marquette.
• Nze went over 1,000 career points in the Feb. 2 game at Marquette;
Jair Bolden currently stands at 983 career points.
• Butler had a season-high 19 assists on 23 made field goals in Saturday's loss at Georgetown.
• Butler forced Georgetown into 23 turnovers, a season-high for a Bulldog opponent; Butler had a season-high 12 steals.
•
Christian David, in his fifth game since returning from ACL surgery, had nine points on a career-best three three-pointers at Georgetown.
• Butler's 76-73 overtime win over St. John's Feb. 9 included overcoming a 16-point deficit.
• The Bulldogs had a season-best 46 points in the paint vs. St. John's.
• Butler is allowing only 67.5 points per game in conference play, which is second in the BIG EAST.
• Freshmen have scored 33 percent of Butler's points so far this season.
• Nze is fourth in the BIG EAST at 7.7 rebounds per game.
•
Jair Bolden is fifth in the BIG EAST at 2.7 three-pointers per game.
• Butler has committed single-digit turnovers in seven games this season.
• Averaging only 11.4 turnovers per game, Butler is 47th nationally.
• Eight different Bulldogs have led the team in scoring this season; five different Bulldogs have posted 20-point games.
The Bulldogs return to Hinkle Fieldhouse Wednesday night, hosting Marquette.
THE SERIES: Butler holds a narrow 23-21 lead in the all-time series with Marquette, which dates back to 1922. The Bulldogs are 12-6 in games played at Hinkle Fieldhouse, including a 6-1 home mark since Butler joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 season.
Butler Leads, 23-21
Streak: Marquette, W2
At Hinkle Fieldhouse: Butler Leads, 12-6
LaVall Jordan (at BU) vs. Marquette: 3-4
First Meeting: Marquette, 18-17; 12/16/22 (at MU)
Last Meeting: Marquette, 70-67; 2/2/21 (at MU)
FIRST TIME AROUND: Butler nearly came all the way back from an 18-point second half deficit, only to have a game-tying attempt not find the mark in a 70-67 Marquette win Feb. 2 in Milwaukee.
Seven second-half three-pointers pulled the Bulldogs back into contention after Marquette took its largest lead of the contest at 50-32 with 12:20 to play.
A
Jair Bolden three-pointer pulled Butler within 69-67 with 18 seconds to play before Koby McEwen hit one of two free throws for Marquette. Bolden got a contested look with just a few seconds left on the clock. It was no good and Butler was not able to get back behind the three-point line after the offensive rebound to get another shot at the tie.
Marquette shot 62 percent from the field, but the Bulldogs stayed in contention by forcing 21 turnovers. Butler scored 46 points in the second half to spur the comeback. In his second game as a Bulldog and in his first start,
Bo Hodges narrowly missed a triple-double with 15 points, 12 rebounds and a career-best eight assists.
Chuck Harris led the Bulldogs with 16 points, going 4-of-5 from three-point range.
Butler went 10-of-23 from three-point range, but made only 13 of their 25 attempts from the free throw line.
McEwen and D.J. Carton led Marquette with 18 points apiece.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Senior
Aaron Thompson ranks sixth on Butler's career assists list, now with 449 helpers. He is just eight assists shy of Jeff Rogers for fifth on the list. Thompson has posted double-digit assists in back-to-back games, two of the four times in his career that he has done that.
With 117 career steals, Thompson is also a single swipe shy of tying Shelvin Mack for 15th on Butler's career list.
NEEDING EXTRA TIME: 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. The Feb. 9th 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.
2 FOR 20: Bryce Nze and
Chuck Harris each scored 22 points in the Feb. 6 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 fourth in the BIG EAST in rebounding at 7.7 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 third in the BIG EAST and 47th nationally, averaging only 11.4 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 117 games that LaVall Jordan has been head coach at Butler.
