GAME 17:  Butler (6-10, 5-8 BIG EAST) vs. rv/-- St. John's (13-7, 7-6 BIG EAST)
Tuesday, Feb. 9;  9PM
Hinkle Fieldhouse;  Indianapolis, Ind.
TV:  FS1 - Joe Davis & Steve Lavin
Radio:  107.5FM/93.5FM/1070AM - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
TuneIn Radio App, XM 385, SiriusXM Internet 975
@ButlerMBB  |  #ButlerWay  |  ButlerSports.com

Full Notes (PDF)
 
• Butler is 5-3 at Hinkle this season, including 4-2 in BIG EAST play.
• Butler is 6-1 all-time against St. John's at Hinkle.
• Butler is allowing only 66.3 points per game in conference play, which is second in the BIG EAST.
• Butler had season-highs in both free throws (24) and attempts (36) in Saturday's win over DePaul.
• Bryce Nze had 22 points Saturday against DePaul, his highest total in a Butler uniform; it included a career-high three three-pointers.
• Freshman Chuck Harris matched his career-high with 22 points against DePaul; Harris has missed only one game this season, the team's Jan. 12 loss at St. John's.
• Freshmen have scored 35 percent of Butler's points so far this season; newcomers have produced 57 percent of the scoring output.
• Bo Hodges has pulled down double-figure rebounds in two of his three games in a Butler uniform.
• Nze is third in the BIG EAST at 7.9 rebounds per game.
• Jair Bolden is second in the BIG EAST at 2.81 three-pointers per game.
• Nze went over 1,000 career points in the Feb. 2 game at Marquette; Bolden currently stands at 973 career points.
• Butler committed nine turnovers at Marquette Tuesday, its seventh game this season with single-digit turnovers.
• Averaging only 11.0 turnovers per game, Butler is 25th 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 428 assists, Aaron Thompson is now sixth on Butler's career list.
• Only three Bulldogs have appeared in all 16 games this season.
• No. 8 Creighton is the highest-ranked opponent Butler has beaten since a 101-93 win over No. 1 Villanova, Dec. 30, 2017.
 
The Bulldogs welcome St. John's to Hinkle Fieldhouse for a Tuesday night tip. The Red Storm are one of the nation's hottest teams, bringing a current BIG EAST-best six-game winning streak into the contest. Butler's defense, which allows only 66.8 points per contest, will be tested by the conference's highest-scoring offense (79.7 points per game).
 
St. John's took the first meeting between the teams this season by a score of 69-57 in Queens, Jan. 12. This match-up in Indianapolis was originally scheduled for Dec. 14 before being postponed due to COVID protocols.
 
THE SERIES: Butler leads the all-time series between the two teams, 9-7. All but one match-up (a 1958 NIT game) have come since the Bulldogs joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 season. That includes a 6-1 mark at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
 
Butler Leads, 9-7
Streak: St. John's, W1
At Hinkle Fieldhouse: Butler Leads, 6-1
LaVall Jordan (at BU) vs. SJU: 4-3
First Meeting: St. John's, 78-68; 3/13/58 (NIT)
Last Meeting: St. John's, 69-57, 1/12/21 (at SJU)
 
FIRST TIME AROUND: Butler St. John's used a late 10-1 run to pull away in a 69-57 win over Butler Jan. 12 at Carnesecca Arena in Queens, N.Y.
 
Seven straight makes by the Bulldogs pulled the visitors within four at 55-51 with just over nine minutes remaining. Butler then cooled by making just two of their next 11 attempts from the floor as St. John's was able to put together the decisive 10-1 run.
 
The Red Storm's pressure forced the Bulldogs into 16 turnovers, which proved to be the deciding factor. Julian Champagnie led the Red Storm with 18 points. The Red Storm shot 45 percent from the field, but turned the ball over only eight times.
 
Jair Bolden led Butler with 17 points, including five three-pointers. Bryce Nze pulled down 14 rebounds, his highest total in a Butler uniform. Butler had a 39-30 rebounding advantage.
 
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 Tuesday at Marquette.
 
'BOARD' OUT OF HIS MIND: Redshirt senior Bryce Nze is third in the BIG EAST in rebounding at 7.9 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).
 
HANDLE WITH CARE: Butler is second in the BIG EAST and 25th nationally, averaging only 11.0 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 115 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.
 
The 17-4 run by the Bulldogs to send the game to overtime was similar to the Bulldogs' closing stretch in the Jan. 6 win over Georgetown. 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.
 
Three of Butler's wins have included overcoming double-digit deficits (12 vs. DePaul, Feb. 6; 13 vs. Creighton, Jan. 16; and 11 vs. Georgetown, Jan. 6).
 
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).