The Bulldogs, winners of three straight, travel to Cincinnati for a Tuesday night match-up with Xavier. This is the first meeting between the two programs this season as Butler has already played every other BIG EAST opponent at least once and has concluded the home-and-home regular season series with five BIG EAST rivals.
 
Butler (12-13, 5-9 BIG EAST) at Xavier (16-10, 8-7)
Tuesday, Feb. 18 • 8PM
Cintas Center • Cincinnati, Ohio
 
TV: Peacock • Paul Burmeister & Austin Rivers
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• Butler enters the game off a 97-86 win over Georgetown Saturday; the 97 points were a season-high. Butler is 8-0 this season when scoring 80 or more points, including all five of their BIG EAST wins. 
• Pierre Brooks II led the Bulldogs with a career-high 30 points against Georgetown; he went 10-for-13 from the field and made all eight of his free throws. The 24th point of the day for Brooks was the 1,000th of his career.
• Brooks and Finley Bizjack accounted for 28 of Butler's first 31 points Saturday against Georgetown (in the first 14:19 of the game).
• Butler went 28-for-35 (80 percent) from the free throw line against Georgetown; the 28 makes were the most by Butler in exactly eight years (when the team made 29 in a Feb. 15, 2017 win over St. John's). Butler's season average of 16.8 made free throws per game is 28th nationally, but the Bulldogs had combined to make just 27 free throws in the three games prior to Georgetown.
• The Bulldogs shot 57.7 percent from the field against Georgetown, the team's second-best performance this season. Butler made 12 of its final 15 attempts in the first half and then followed that up by shooting 67 percent from the field in the second half.
• The Bulldogs are shooting 50.2 percent from the field over the last eight games, including shooting 50 percent or better in five of those games -- all wins.    
• Butler is shooting 31-for-63 (49 percent) from three-point range over the team's last three games; on the season, Butler is shooting 37.7 percent from behind the arc (25th nationally).
• Butler has led at the half in 10 of the team's 14 BIG EAST games (and was tied in one of the other four games).
• Butler is committing only 14.1 fouls per game, which is the 17th-fewest nationally.
• The Bulldogs' two most recent opponents -- Providence and Georgetown -- combined to attempt 70 three-point shots. Butler is allowing opponents to shoot only 30.6 percent from three-point range, a defensive effort that is second in the BIG EAST and 38th nationally.
• Georgetown held a 39-36 rebounding advantage over Butler Saturday; it was the first time in the last eight games that the Bulldogs had been out-rebounded (Butler held the edge in five of those seven games and the teams were even on the boards in the other two games).
• Jahmyl Telfort scored 12 points Saturday against Georgetown, his 100th career game in double figures. 
• Bizjack is shooting 21-for-39 (54 percent) from three-point range over the last seven games; he is averaging 14.4 points per game during that stretch.
• Patrick McCaffery is shooting 12-for-20 (60 percent) from three-point range over his last five games: he has hit at least one three-pointer in 31 consecutive games (which includes every game this season and the final six games of Iowa's 2023-24 season). McCaffery has 17 games this season with multiple made three-pointers.
• Landon Moore tied his season-high with 13 points against Georgetown Saturday, and tied his career-high with six rebounds.
• The Bulldogs defeated Northwestern and No. 25 Mississippi State in taking the Arizona Tip-Off title over Thanksgiving.
 
BIG in the BIG EAST
• In BIG EAST games only, Butler now boasts the conference's highest-scoring offense (75.7 points per game) and the best shooting offense (hitting 47.4 percent of attempts from the field).
• Butler's three-point percentage defense in BIG EAST games only also leads the conference as Bulldog opponents are hitting only 31 percent of their attempts from behind the arc.
 
Connection Points
• Thad Matta served as the head coach at Xavier for three seasons (2001-04) following his initial season as the head coach at Butler. Sean Miller was on his Xavier staff and took over the program when Matta left for Ohio State in 2004.
• Matta and Miller were both assistants on the coaching staff at Miami (Ohio) for the 1996-97 season.
• Both Matta and Miller are in their second head coaching stint at their respective school.
• Butler assistant coach Mike Pegues was on Chris Mack's Xavier staff for six seasons (2012-18).
 
Musing on the Musketeers
• Xavier is 16-10 on the season, including 8-7 in BIG EAST play.
• Zach Freemantle leads the team with 17.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Ryan Conwell adds 15.5 points per game.
• The Musketeers shoot 38.6 percent from three-point range, which is 12th nationally.
• Xavier also is among the nation's leaders in free throw percentage (79.0 percent, 11th) and free throws made per game (17.2; 17th).
• Xavier's offense is fueled by an average of 15.7 fast break points per game, which ranks tenth in the nation.
 
The Series with Xavier
• The first meeting between Butler and Xavier came in 1937; of current BIG EAST teams, only Butler's series with Creighton dates back earlier (1933)
• The two programs have been rivals in three different conferences: the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, the Atlantic 10 for a single season in 2012-13, and in the BIG EAST since the 2013-14 campaign when both programs, along with Creighton, joined the league.
 
Series:  Xavier Leads, 48-27
Streak: Xavier, W1
In Cincinnati: Xavier Leads, 27-5
First Meeting: Jan. 16, 1937; Xavier, 28-26 (at XU)
Last Meeting: March 13, 2024; Xavier, 76-72 (at MSG)