The Bulldogs head to Tempe for the 2024 Arizona Tip-Off. Butler will celebrate Thanksgiving with a Thursday tip against Northwestern before finishing off the two-day, four-team event Friday against either No. 25 Mississippi State or UNLV.
 
THE SPECIFICS:
Butler (4-1) vs. Northwestern (5-1)
Arizona Tip-Off
Thursday, Nov. 28;  7PM ET / 5PM MT
Mullett Arena -- Tempe, Ariz.
 
FOLLOW ALONG:
TV: CBS Sports Network - Jack Benjamin & Matt McCall
Audio: Varsity Network App, SiriusXM 201 or 210, SXM App 963, TuneIn - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
 
THE SERIES:  Northwestern Leads, 16-11
Streak: Butler, W6
Neutral Floor: Northwestern Leads, 1-0
First Meeting: 1934-35 season; NU, 41-36
Last Meeting: Nov. 16, 2016; Butler, 70-68
 
TEXT TO SCROLL THROUGH AT YOUR LEISURE:
• Butler's trip to the desert for the Thanksgiving holiday marks their first games away from Hinkle Fieldhouse this season.
• Butler has won six straight match-ups against Northwestern, but the most recent tip came in 2016 when Kamar Baldwin hit a buzzer-beater in Butler's 70-68 win.
• The Bulldogs enter the Arizona Tip-Off following a dominating 78-39 win over Merrimack Friday night.
• Butler limited Merrimack to only eight second-half points. The last time Butler held an opponent to 10 or fewer points in a half was the 2001 NCAA Tournament (43-10 halftime lead over Wake Forest in the first round) when Thad Matta was coaching the Bulldogs during his first stint.
• The last time Butler held an opponent to less than 40 points in a game was the team's Dec. 28, 2019 win over Louisiana-Monroe (67-36).
• No Merrimack player reached double figures.
• Butler's defense limited Merrimack to 14.3-percent shooting in the second half; for the game, Merrimack missed their final 16 attempts from three-point range.
• Butler was a combined +8 in rebounding margin over the team's first four games of the season before posting a 51-23 rebounding advantage against Merrimack.
• The Bulldogs committed a season-low nine turnovers against Merrimack.
• Butler had five players score in double figures against Merrimack, following six Bulldogs scoring 10 or more in the team's previous game (a Nov. 15 win over SMU).
• Pierre Brooks II and Patrick McCaffery have scored in double figures in every game for the Bulldogs this season.
• Brooks pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds to go along with his game-high 23 points to post the second double-double of his career.
• Andre Screen has nine rebounds in each of Butler's two most recent games, the most he has pulled down in a Butler uniform. (His career-high 13 came during his time at Bucknell.)
• On the season, Butler's defense is allowing only 61 points per game, which is 26th nationally. The Bulldogs' field goal percentage defense of 36.4 percent ranks 25th nationally.
• 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.
• McCaffery ranks 34th nationally in three-point percentage (50 percent). His 3.2 made three-pointers per game rank 49th.
• Butler has been strong at the free throw line. The team's 77.8-percent mark is 35th nationally, while the team's 19.6 makes per game is 31st. Butler has made at least 17 free throws and has shot at least 70 percent from the free throw line in all five games so far this season.
• Butler has three players averaging 14 or more points per game at this point in the season: Brooks (16.6), Telfort (15.2), and McCaffery (14.4). The trio has combined for Butler's four 20-point scoring outputs (in addition to a separate 19-point game from Telfort vs. SMU).
• Butler is the only team in the BIG EAST to return its top two scorers from a season ago (Brooks, Telfort).
• Butler last played in the state of Arizona in 2004 as part of the Fiesta Bowl Classic in Tucson.
• Freshman Evan Haywood scored the first 10 points of his Butler career in the win over Merrimack.
• Kolby King's seven assists vs. Merrimack were the most by a Butler player in a game this season.
 
The Line of Demarcation
• The three-point line has been telling for Butler and its opponents this season. The Bulldogs are shooting 41.1 percent from behind the arc this season, which ranks 17th nationally. Conversely, Butler is holding opponents to just a 24.3-percent mark from three-point range, a defensive effort that is tenth nationally. Butler makes 9.2 three-pointers per game, while the opposition is averaging only 5.0 makes per game.
 
Also in the Desert
• Butler's Friday opponent in the Arizona Tip-Off will either be No. 25 Mississippi State or UNLV.
• Butler has played MSU once, a 47-46 win in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament. That match-up was staged in Birmingham, Ala. The Bulldogs would go on to defeat Louisville in the second round before losing to top-seeded Oklahoma in the Sweet 16.
• A potential match-up between Butler and UNLV would be the first in the series.
 
Top Team Performances
• The Bulldogs put six players in double figures against SMU, the first game Butler has reached that feat since the Nov. 6, 2023 win against Eastern Michigan.
 
Top Individual Performances
• 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 in the team's 81-70 win Nov. 15. 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.
• 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.
• Patrick McCaffery led the Bulldogs with 23 points against Austin Peay Nov. 8; it was one shy of his career-high 24 points that came during his time at Iowa (against Wisconsin, Dec. 11, 2022). McCaffery went 5-for-8 from three-point range, just one shy of his career-best six three-pointers against Nebraska March 5, 2023.
• Telfort led Butler with 29 points in the season-opening win over Missouri State Nov 4. The 29 points by Telfort were the most by a Butler player since Chuck Harris scored 32 against Tennessee Tech on Dec. 3, 2022.