Butler vs. Eastern Michigan
Monday, Nov. 6;  8PM
Hinkle Fieldhouse; Indianapolis, Ind.
 
TV: FS1 & FOX Sports App - Matt Schumacker & Nick Bahe
Radio: WXNT 1430AM, Varsity Network Radio App & SiriusXM App - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
 
Series: First Meeting
 
• Butler is 70-2 over its last 72 non-conference home games.
• Butler has won eight straight non-conference home games.
• The Bulldogs have won their home opener in 24 consecutive seasons; that dates back to 1998 when Southwest Missouri State (now referred to as Missouri State) won a 72-57 decision at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
• Butler cruised to a pair of exhibition wins during the preseason, topping both opponents by more than 30 points.
• Jahmyl Telfort made 11 of his 14 attempts from the field in the two exhibitions combined.
• Posh Alexander swiped a combined nine steals in 47 minutes of exhibition play.
• DJ Davis made five of his 10 three-point attempts in the exhibitions.
• Landon Moore played a total of 35 minutes in the two exhibitions, handing out eight assists against only one turnover.
• Finley Bizjack and Pierre Brooks registered double figures in each of the team's exhibitions; eight different Bulldogs scored eight or more points in at least one of the exhibitions.
• Butler center Jalen Thomas sat out Wednesday's exhibition to rest a foot issue. He is expected to be available for the Bulldogs' regular season opener Monday. Andre Screen started in his place.
• Butler is also without freshman Augusto Cassia, who sustained a strain to a muscle in his right leg more than a week ago. He is out indefinitely, and his status will be updated in the coming weeks.
• Only two players on the 2023-24 roster played in games for Butler last season (Jalen Thomas and Connor Turnbull). John-Michael Mulloy was also on the Butler roster a season ago, but didn't play due to injury.
• Butler returns only 9% of scoring (191 of 2,088 points) and 9% of minutes played (563 of 6,400) from the 2022-23 season.
• Thomas led the Bulldogs in scoring in the Dec. 29, 2022 game against Providence, the only game that anyone on Butler's current roster has led the team in scoring.
• Thomas and Turnbull combined for 32 of the team's 74 blocked shots in BIG EAST play despite combining to play only 493 of the team's 4,000 minutes played in conference action.
• The nine scholarship players on Butler's 2023-24 roster who bring collegiate experience have combined for 237 double-figure scoring games; only eight of those games have come in a Butler uniform (all by Thomas during the 2022-23 season).
• Five of Butler's incoming transfers averaged double figures during the 2022-23 season for their respective former teams.
• Thad Matta has won 453 games in his 18 seasons as a head coach, which averages out to 25.2 wins per season.
• Matta is 23-7 at Hinkle Fieldhouse as the head coach at Butler (2000-01 and his current stint that began prior to the 2022-23 season).
• Alex Barlow, most recently the head coach of the Boston Celtics' G-League affiliate in Maine, returns to Butler as an assistant coach for the upcoming season; as a player, Barlow helped the Bulldogs to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2013 and 2015. Barlow filled the staff vacancy that was created when Kevin Kuwik was named the head coach at Army.
• In 2022-23, all seven of Butler's top scorers were available in only nine of the team's 32 games.
• Butler shot 50 percent or better from the field 11 times during the 2022-23 season; the Bulldogs won all 11 of those games.
• Butler was 11-0 during the 2022-23 season when scoring 70 or more points.
 
What's On Deck...Schedule Notes
• Includes eight games against teams ranked in the Top 10 of the preseason AP and coaches polls
• Includes 14 games against teams ranked in the Top 25 or receiving votes in the preseason AP and coaches polls
• Includes at least 12 games against teams in ESPN's Way-Too-Early Top 25 (Oct. 9 edition)
• Includes at least 15 games against teams in Joe Lunardi's 2024 Bracketology (Oct. 10 edition)
• The ESPN Events Invitational field includes opening-round opponent Florida Atlantic in addition to Texas A&M, Penn State, Iowa State, Virginia Tech, VCU, and Boise State.
• According to KenPom, Butler played the nation's 19th-toughest schedule during the 2022-23 season. Twenty-three (23) of the team's 32 games came against teams ranked among the KenPom Top 100.
 
Milestones Within Reach
• Jahmyl Telfort scored 1,000 points in just three seasons at Northeastern, currently standing at 1,095 career points. Four Bulldogs have the opportunity to join him above the 1,000-point threshold during the season: Posh Alexander (979), DJ Davis (948), Jalen Thomas (733), and Andre Screen (720).
• Jalen Thomas pulled down his 500th career rebound in the final game of the 2022-23 season; he enters his final campaign with exactly 500 boards. Andre Screen has 410 career rebounds.
• Posh Alexander handed out 391 assists in his three seasons at St. John's.