Butler (5-3) vs. Tennessee Tech (3-5)
Saturday, Dec. 3;  2PM
Hinkle Fieldhouse
Indianapolis, Ind.
 
PDF Notes Available at https://bit.ly/3NGADRf
 
TV: FS1 & FOX Sports App - Wayne Randazzo & Nick Bahe
Radio: 1430AM - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
Varsity Network Radio App
SiriusXM 382, SXM App 972
 
SERIES: This is the first meeting between the two basketball programs.
 
• Butler is 68-2 over its last 70 non-conference home games.
• Wednesday's win over Kansas State was the fifth time in eight games this season that the Bulldogs have shot 50 percent or better from the field, and the fourth time this season shooting 40 percent or better from three-point range.
• Butler put five players in double figures Wednesday against Kansas State, the second time this season doing so.
• Butler's starters played 185 of a possible 200 total minutes vs. Kansas State.
• As a team, Butler is 19th nationally in blocks at 5.5 per game.
• Butler is 5-0 this season when leading at halftime.
• Over the past five games, Butler is limiting its opponents to 24-percent shooting from three-point range and an average of only 4.4 makes per game (22-91).
• Tennessee Tech coach John Pelphrey has been on the bench twice previously in match-ups against Butler, both as an assistant to Billy Donovan. The Bulldogs defeated Marshall on the road during the 1995-96 season, while Florida knocked off Butler, 69-68 in overtime, in the first round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament. The 2000 game was Thad Matta's final game as an assistant coach before taking over the Butler program with the 2000-01 season.
• Manny Bates led the Bulldogs with 22 points and 10 rebounds against Kansas State, his second 20-point game and third double-double of the young season.
• Manny Bates is eighth nationally in blocks per game at 2.9 per game; his 67.1 field goal percentage is 16th in the NCAA.
• Simas Lukosius handed out a career-high seven assists against Kansas State, which also matched the most by a Butler player this season.
• Chuck Harris is now 25th in Butler history in career three-pointers (108).
• Jayden Taylor is the only Bulldog to score in double figures in all eight of the team's games.
• Butler posted a 47-point win over The Citadel Nov. 19, which is the largest margin of victory by the Bulldogs since defeating Western Illinois, 107-46, at Hinkle Fieldhouse Dec. 21, 2017.
• Butler shot 70.4 percent from the field in the 95-67 win over Saint Francis (Pa.) Nov. 17; it was the second-best field goal percentage in program history, trailing only the 71.9 clip from the Nov. 15, 2014 win over Maine.
• The Nov. 19 win over The Citadel included 17 three-pointers, which was just shy of the program-record of 20 and the most since hitting 17 vs. Northern Illinois Dec. 8, 2018.
• Harris scored a team-high 20 points in the final game of the Battle 4 Atlantis against North Carolina State Nov. 25. It was the second 20-point game of the season for Harris and the 12th of his career.
• The Bulldogs have been without DJ Hughes for the past two games after he suffered a concussion in the Nov. 24 win over BYU. Butler has been without Ali Ali, John-Michael Mulloy, Jalen Thomas, and Myles Wilmoth due to injury for the entirety of the regular season thus far.
• Bates opened his Butler career with back-to-back double-doubles; his 25 points in the season-opener against New Orleans were a career-high.
• Bates is the first Bulldog to score at least 20 points in his Butler debut since Rotnei Clarke (21 vs. Elon in 2012).
• Harris and Taylor have combined to go 43-for-47 from the free throw line so far this season (91 percent).
• The Bulldogs committed only five turnovers in the Nov. 14 Gavitt Games loss at Penn State.
• The Bulldogs forced New Orleans into 30 turnovers in the season opener.
• Thad Matta returns to his alma mater as the head coach at Butler; he also led the Bulldogs as head coach during the 2000-01 season.
• Matta is a combined 70-26 in the first season at each of his previous head coaching stops (Butler in 2000-01, Xavier in 2001-02 and Ohio State in 2004-05), winning at least 20 games in each of those seasons.