In their final tip prior to heading to the desert for the 2024 Arizona Tip-Off, Butler will host Merrimack Friday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Bulldogs (3-1) enter the contest off their most impressive performance of the young season, an 11-point win over SMU. Merrimack dropped an 11-point decision to No. 24 Rutgers Wednesday night in their most recent outing.
 
THE SPECIFICS:
Butler (3-1) vs. Merrimack (1-3)
Friday, Nov. 22; 7PM
Hinkle Fieldhouse; Indianapolis, Ind.
 
FOLLOW ALONG:
TV: FS2 - Wayne Randazzo & Kris Jenkins
Audio: Varsity Network App, SXM App 983, TuneIn - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
 
THE SERIES: First Meeting
 
TEXT TO SCROLL THROUGH AT YOUR LEISURE:
• The Bulldogs close out a season-opening five-game homestand with Friday's tip against Merrimack.
• Butler enters the match-up off an 81-70 win over SMU.
• The Bulldogs put six players in double figures against SMU, the first game Butler has reached that feat since the Nov. 6, 2023 game against Eastern Michigan.
• Jahmyl Telfort and Kolby King scored 13 of the points in a key 16-2 Butler run that erased SMU's final lead of the game (at 50-48 with 13:11 remaining) and gave Butler a 64-52 lead they would not relinquish.
• Seventeen of Telfort's team-high 19 points came in the second half against SMU.
• King's 14 points included a perfect 4-for-4 performance from three-point range. The four made three-pointers tied his career-high.
• Finley Bizjack has scored in double figures in each of his three games this season (he missed the Missouri State due to an ankle injury); he scored in double figures three times during his entire freshman season.
• Andre Screen's nine rebounds against SMU were the most he has pulled down in a Butler uniform. (His career-high 13 came during his time at Bucknell.)
• Patrick McCaffery ranks 35th nationally in three-pointers made (3.5 per game) and 45th nationally in three-point percentage (51.9 percent).
• Butler made 19 of its 24 free throw attempts in the win over SMU. On the season, Butler is shooting an even 80 percent from the charity stripe, which ranks 21st nationally.
• The Bulldogs made a season-high 12 three-pointers against SMU; Butler's three-point percentage of 41.3 percent ranks 28th in the nation.
• Pierre Brooks II scored a game-high 20 points and handed out a career-best six assists against Western Michigan Nov. 11. It marked Brooks's first 20-point game of the season and the eighth of his career. Brooks made four his five attempts from three-point range.
• Augusto Cassia made the first start of his Butler career against Western Michigan Nov. 11 and responded with career-highs of 16 points and three blocks. He went 8-for-10 from the free throw line.
• Bizjack set a career-high with nine rebounds against Western Michigan Nov. 11; he added 10 points and was one shy of his career-best with five assists.
• Butler has three players averaging 15 or more points per game at this point in the season: Telfort (16.3), McCaffery (15.3), and Brooks (15.0).
• SMU entered the game with Butler averaging 93.0 points per game on 50-percent shooting; the Bulldogs limited SMU to 71 points and 40-percent shooting.
• On the season, Butler's defense has limited opponents to 37.8-percent shooting (51st nationally) and 26.8-percent three-point shooting (52nd nationally). Butler's 5.5 blocks per game are 35th nationally.
• Bizjack made all eight of his free throw attempts against SMU; he became the third different Bulldog to make at least eight free throws in a single game so far this season (Telfort, 11-16 vs. Missouri State, and Cassia, 8-10 vs. Western Michigan). Butler is currently first in the BIG EAST in both free throws made and free throws attempted per game. 
• Butler is the only team in the BIG EAST to return its top two scorers from a season ago (Brooks, Telfort).