GAME 20:  Butler (7-12, 6-10 BIG EAST) at rv/rv Xavier (11-4, 4-4 BIG EAST)
Sunday, Feb. 21;  7PM 
Cintas Center;  Cincinnati, Ohio
TV:  FS1 - Eric Collins & Dickey Simpkins
Radio:  107.5FM/93.5FM/1070AM - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
TuneIn Radio App, XM 384, SiriusXM Internet 974
@ButlerMBB  |  #ButlerWay  |  ButlerSports.com

The Bulldogs will load up the bus and travel to Cincinnati for a Sunday tip against Xavier. 

Full Notes (PDF)

• The Jan. 30 match-up between Butler and Xavier was Bo Hodges' first game in a Bulldog uniform; he had 11 points and six rebounds.
• Chuck Harris led the Bulldogs with 21 points Wednesday against Marquette, his third 20-point game of his freshman season. 
• Harris now leads the team in scoring at 11.3 points per game. 
• Butler is +13 in second-half scoring, while opponents have out-scored the Bulldogs by 108 in the first half this season. 
• Butler has committed single-digit turnovers in seven games this season.
• Averaging only 11.4 turnovers per game, Butler is 43rd nationally.
• Eight different Bulldogs have led the team in scoring this season; five different Bulldogs have posted 20-point games. 
• Christian David got the first start of his Butler career Wednesday against Marquette in place of the injured Bryce Nze.
• Nze is fourth in the BIG EAST at 7.7 rebounds per game. 
• Harris is eighth in the BIG EAST with a 41.7 three-point percentage.
• Jair Bolden is fifth in the BIG EAST at 2.6 three-pointers per game. 
• Aaron Thompson has posted double-digit assists in two of his last three games.
• Bryce Golden had 18 points Wednesday vs. Marquette, one shy of his career-high posted Jan. 26 at UConn.
• Nze went over 1,000 career points in the Feb. 2 game at Marquette; Bolden currently stands at 986 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.
• 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 67.9 points per game in conference play, which is second in the BIG EAST.
• Freshmen have scored 34 percent of Butler's points so far this season.

THE SERIES: Xavier Leads, 42-23
Streak: Xavier, W1
At Xavier: Xavier Leads, 23-5
LaVall Jordan (at BU) vs. Xavier: 3-4 
First Meeting: Xavier, 28-26; 1/16/37 (at XU) 
Last Meeting: Butler, 68-55; 1/30/21 (at Hinkle)

FIRST TIME AROUND: Nearly half of Xavier's points came from behind the three-point line as the Musketeers took a 68-55 win over Butler Jan. 30 at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Paul Scruggs had a game-high 24 points and Xavier went 10-of-20 from three-point range.
 
Xavier extended a 12-point halftime advantage to a 47-27 margin with 15:30 remaining. Butler responded with 13 straight points to cut the deficit to seven on Bo Hodges' putback with 11:12 to play.
 
The game was the Butler debut for Hodges, who had an appeal approved by the NCAA earlier in the week to become immediately eligible after sitting out the first 13 games of the season after transferring from East Tennessee State. Hodges had 11 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes of action off the bench.
 
Bryce Nze's bucket in the paint with 6:53 to play pulled the Bulldogs within four for the first time since early in the first half. That made the score 54-50. Xavier responded by pushing the lead back to nine immediately and then captured the win.
 
Nze had his second double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds. He went 7-of-10 from the field. Aaron Thompson added 10 points. Butler shot only 34 percent from the field, including 5-of-25 from three-point range.
 
Xavier hit 51 percent of their shots, including the 10 three-pointers. Adam Kunkel (15) and Nate Johnson (14) joined Scruggs in double figures. Those three combined to go 9-of-11 from behind the arc.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Senior Aaron Thompson ranks sixth on Butler's career assists list, now with 452 helpers. He is just five assists shy of Jeff Rogers for fifth on the list. Thompson has posted double-digit assists in two of the last three games, two of the four times in his career that he has done that. 

With 118 career steals, Thompson is also a tied with 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 Feb. 9 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

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 second in the BIG EAST and 43rd 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 55 of the 118 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. 

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. Tate recorded a career-high 22 points Jan. 2 at Seton Hall. His output included a career-best five three-pointers.