Butler (9-6, 2-2 BIG EAST) at #14/14 Villanova (12-4, 5-1 BIG EAST)
Sunday, Jan. 16;  12PM 
Wells Fargo Arena; Philadelphia, Pa.
TV:  FS1 - Dave Sims & Jim Spanarkel
Radio:  1430AM - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
Varsity Network Radio App, XM392, SiriusXM App 982
 
Full Notes (PDF)
 
The Bulldogs continue their east coast road trip with a Sunday game at No. 14 Villanova. The trip began Thursday with a 72-58 win at Georgetown and is set to conclude 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: Villanova owns a 13-5 advantage in the all-time series against Butler. However, all five of Butler's wins have come since the beginning of the 2016-17 season (the teams have met 11 times during that stretch). No other BIG EAST team has five wins over Villanova since the 2016-17 season. Only one of those Butler wins has come in Philadelphia (a 2017 win on Villanova's campus at the Finneran Pavilion).
 
Villanova Leads, 13-5
Streak: Butler, W1
At Villanova: Villanova Leads, 7-1
LaVall Jordan (at BU) vs. Villanova: 3-6
First Meeting: Villanova, 62-54; 11/30/96
Last Meeting: Butler, 73-61; 2/28/21 (at Hinkle)
 
LAST MEETING: Butler captured a 73-61 win over No. 8 Villanova Feb. 28 on Senior Day at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Chuck Harris led four Bulldogs in double figures with 20 points. Butler limited Villanova to 2-of-27 shooting from three-point range.
 
SPEAKING OF DEFENDING THE THREE-POINT LINE: Georgetown entered Thursday's game with Butler making 38.0 percent of their three-point attempts, which was Top 30 in the NCAA. Butler limited the Hoyas to a 3-of-16 performance from behind the arc. Butler's defense held Aminu Mohammed and Kaiden Rice to combined 3-for-25 shooting from the field. Rice entered the game averaging 4.1 three-pointers per game.
 
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.
 
HOME SWEET HINKLE: Butler is 54-17 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in LaVall Jordan's five seasons as head coach of the Bulldogs.
 
• Jair Bolden's 23 points Thursday at Georgetown were a new high for him in a Butler uniform.
• Butler went 17-of-19 at the free throw line vs. Georgetown; the .895 percentage matched the Bulldogs' season-high.
• Bo Hodges (left knee) played his first game of the season for the Bulldogs Thursday; he had seven rebounds in 11 minutes.
• Bryce Golden is shooting 62.4 percent from the field this season, which is second in the BIG EAST.
• Aaron Thompson is the second Bulldog to register 500 career assists (505).
• Thompson's 20 points vs. Xavier Jan. 7 were one shy of his career-high.
• Golden is averaging 14.8 points per game over his last nine games (eight in double figures)
• Three of Golden's six top scoring outputs in his career have come in the Bulldogs' last six games.
• Bryce Nze has led the Bulldogs in rebounding in seven of the eight 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.
• Thompson is fifth in the BIG EAST at 4.4 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 the Jan. 7 game against Xavier.
• Five of Butler's six losses have come to teams ranked in the Top 27 of the NCAA NET metric.
• Butler is allowing only 62.3 points per game so far this season, a mark that is Top 40 nationally.
• Butler is 7-0 this season when shooting more free throws than its opponent and 6-0 when winning the rebounding battle.