The Tip-Off
• Butler makes the drive up I-65 for a Saturday tip in Chicago against DePaul.
• The contest serves as Butler's final road game of the regular season.
• The Bulldogs won the first match-up between the two teams, 74-60, Jan. 20 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
 
Butler (16-13, 7-11 BIG EAST) at DePaul (3-25, 0-17)
Saturday, March 2;  12PM ET
Wintrust Arena; Chicago, Ill.
 
TV: FS1 - Matt Schumacker & Nick Bahe
Radio: WXNT 1430AM, Varsity Network Radio App, SiriusXM 383, SXM App 973 - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
 
The Series with the Blue Demons
• Butler is 19-2 against DePaul since joining the BIG EAST
• The Bulldogs have won eight straight in the series.
• The first meeting between Butler and DePaul came in 1939.
• Butler has won nine of the 10 meetings in Chicago in the time the teams have been BIG EAST rivals.
 
Series:  Butler Leads, 20-7
Streak: Butler, W8
At DePaul: Butler Leads, 10-4
First Meeting: BU, 39-29; 1939 (at DePaul)
Last Meeting: BU, 74-60; 1/20/24 (at Hinkle)
 
First Time Around
• Butler won the first match-up between the two teams this season, 74-60 at Hinkle Fieldhouse Jan. 20.
• The Bulldogs won despite shooting only 40 percent from the field.
• Butler had a season-high 11 steals in the contest; Posh Alexander tied his career-high with six, while DJ Davis swiped a personal-best five.
• Butler went 18-for-21 from the free throw line.
• Pierre Brooks II led the Bulldogs with 20 points; Alexander and Davis each scored 17.
• DePaul made a change in their head coaching position two days later (Jan. 22).
 
Of Note
• Butler dropped an 82-59 result to St. John's on Wednesday night in the team's last outing, which ran the Bulldogs' current losing streak to five games.
• Butler and DePaul are two of only three teams nationally with at least 14 NCAA NET ranking Quad 1 games so far this season (rankings as of Thursday, Feb. 29); Both Butler and DePaul have 14; Michigan is the national leader with 15.
• KenPom ranks Butler's schedule so far this season as the nation's seventh-toughest slate, while the NCAA NET strength of schedule metric lists it as No. 4 nationally (as of Thursday, Feb. 29).
• Butler is one of only 32 teams nationally that has not suffered a loss in either Quad 3 or 4 of the NCAA NET rankings. 
• Posh Alexander is 9-for-15 (60 percent) from three-point range over the last three games; that includes matching a career-high with four makes at Villanova Feb. 20. He has seven games this season hitting multiple three-pointers, including each of the last three contests.
• Butler went 11-for-15 from the free throw line against St. John's Wednesday. On the season, Butler ranks 11th nationally in free throw shooting at 78.7 percent. Butler has shot 70 percent or better from the line in all but one game.
• DJ Davis ranks No. 1 nationally in free throw percentage at 96.7 percent; he has made 54 of 55 free throw attempts in BIG EAST play.
• Several factors stand out during Butler's current five-game losing skid: Butler has committed a total of 63 turnovers while only forcing 43; the Bulldogs have been out-rebounded in four of the five games; Butler has shot 40 percent or less from the field in four of the five games.
• Butler has 14 games this season with 10 or fewer turnovers, and the Bulldogs are 11-5 this season when committing fewer turnovers than their opponent. Butler committed only eight turnovers in the first match-up against DePaul.
• Butler's offense has uncharacteristically averaged only 62.8 points per game over the five-game losing streak. Butler has 12 games this season scoring 80 points or more (including seven games of 90 or more).
• Butler is 8-1 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field and a perfect 14-0 when shooting a better percentage than their opponent.
• The Bulldogs commit just 13.8 fouls per game, which ranks 11th nationally.
• Alexander leads the BIG EAST and is 24th nationally at 2.18 steals per game.
• Alexander is seventh in the conference and Top 70 nationally at 4.8 assists per game.
• Pierre Brooks II is 15th in the BIG EAST in scoring at 14.8 points per game. He is sixth in the BIG EAST in three-pointers made per game (2.41).
• Jalen Thomas ranks eighth in the BIG EAST in blocks (1.14 per game) and 16th in rebounding (6.1 per game).
• Jahmyl Telfort is fourth in the BIG EAST in minutes per game (34:48).
• Butler has allowed 90 points in four games this season...and has won three of those games.
• And a random (perhaps) fun fact: two of Butler's last four opponents have failed to score a bench point. Prior to that, the last Bulldog opponent to get points from starters only was Minnesota on Nov. 12, 2019.