Butler (8-6, 1-2 BIG EAST) at Georgetown (6-6, 0-1 BIG EAST)
Thursday, Jan. 13;  7PM 
Capital One Arena; Washington, D.C.
TV:  FS1 - Eric Collins & Donny Marshall
Radio:  1430AM - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
Varsity Network Radio App, XM385, SiriusXM App 975
 
Full Notes
 
The Bulldogs head east for a stretch of three BIG EAST road games over six days. The trip begins Thursday at Georgetown and concludes Tuesday at UConn in a game that was rescheduled from earlier this season due to COVID issues within the Huskies' program at the time.
 
THE SERIES: Butler has won five of the last six meetings against Georgetown that have been played in the nation's capital. The only loss in that stretch was a 78-63 setback in the most recent contest (Feb. 13, 2021).
 
Chuck Harris led the Bulldogs with 18 points in Butler's 63-55 home win over the Hoyas Jan. 6, 2021.
 
Georgetown owns a 10-8 advantage in the all-time series. Other than a 2009 Jimmy V Classic match-up, all of the meetings have come since Butler joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 season.
 
Georgetown Leads, 10-8
Streak: Georgetown, W1
At Georgetown: Butler Leads, 5-3
LaVall Jordan (at BU) vs. GU: 4-4
First Meeting: Georgetown, 72-65; 12/8/09 (NYC)
Last Meeting: Georgetown, 78-63, 2/13/21 (at GU)
 
• Thursday's game at Georgetown starts a stretch of three road games in six days for the Bulldogs.
• Aaron Thompson is the second Bulldog to register 500 career assists (502).
• Bryce Golden is shooting 62.4 percent from the field this season, which is second in the BIG EAST.
• Thompson's 20 points vs. Xavier Friday were one shy of his career-high.
• Golden is averaging 15.3 points per game over his last eight games (seven in double figures)
• Three of Golden's six top scoring outputs in his career have come in the Bulldogs' last five games.
• Bryce Nze has led the Bulldogs in rebounding in six of the seven games he has played.
• Jayden Taylor has scored in double figures eight times during his freshman campaign; Butler is 6-2 in those games.
• Taylor is third among freshmen in the BIG EAST in scoring.
• Simas Lukosius was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week Jan. 3 after scoring a career-high 15 points in the Dec. 29 win over DePaul.
• Ty Groce (COVID protocols) and Bo Hodges (knee) are expected to play Thursday vs. Georgetown; it would mark the season debut for Hodges.
• Thompson is fifth in the BIG EAST at 4.5 assists per game.
• Chuck Harris scored a season-high 26 points in the Dec. 7 win at Oklahoma.
• Butler had a season-low six turnovers in Friday's game against Xavier.
• Five of Butler's six losses have come to teams ranked in the Top 26 of the NCAA NET metric.
• Butler is allowing only 62.6 points per game so far this season, a mark that is Top 50 nationally.
• Butler is 7-0 this season when shooting more free throws than its opponent and 6-0 when winning the rebounding battle.
 
GIVE AND TAKE: Aaron Thompson had seven assists and seven steals in Butler's win over DePaul Dec. 29. The seven steals set a career-high for the guard, who is 12th on Butler's career list with 138. The seven steals were one shy of Butler's single-game record (held by Brett Etherington in a 1990 game against Wisconsin). Thompson now has 502 career assists, which is second only to LaVall Jordan's college teammate Thomas Jackson (540).
 
WEEKLY HONOR: Simas Lukosius was selected as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week as announced Jan. 3. This is the first weekly honor of Lukosius's career. Lukosius led the Bulldogs to a 63-59 win over DePaul Dec. 29 in the team's only action of the week. The 6-6 guard scored a team-best (and career-high) 15 points. He hit two free throws with four seconds remaining to ice the game after scoring 13 points in the first half. He added four rebounds.
 
Both Jayden Taylor and Simas Lukosius got the start in the regular season opener against IUPUI Nov. 9. Freshmen starting in their first Butler game is a rarity. Multiple freshmen starting their first collegiate game at Butler was last done in 2008 (Gordon Hayward, Shelvin Mack, Ron Nored). The only other freshman to start his first Butler game between 2008 and 2021 was Myles Tate in 2020.
 
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 11 teams in this week's AP poll (No. 7 Purdue -- Crossroads Classic, No. 10 Michigan State -- Gavitt Games, and No. 11 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 14-2.