A strong night in the paint helped Butler to an 81-74 exhibition win over Indiana State Sunday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
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The Bulldogs held a 46-20 advantage in points in the paint and out-rebounded the visiting Sycamores, 44-29.
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Jalen Jackson led a trio of Bulldogs in double figures with 19 points before leaving with a knee injury late in the second half.
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NOTABLE:
- Jordan Ellerbee came off the bench to score 14 points for Butler while Drayton Jones added 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
- Jones was one of five Bulldogs with five or more rebounds; Treyson Anderson pulled down eight for Butler.
- Butler shot 46 percent from the field but made only six of 22 three-point attempts.
- Indiana State stayed in the contest with 12 made three-pointers, making eight of 16 attempts from behind the arc in the second half.
- Karmani Gregory had a game-high 22 points for Indiana State.
- Butler never trailed in the contest and led, 37-29, at the half.
- Indiana State trimmed the lead to only two (65-63) with 7:15 remaining before Jackson had a three-pointer and three-point play on back-to-back possessions to push the advantage back to eight less than a minute later.
- Indiana State head coach Matthew Graves is a 1998 Butler graduate who finished his playing career with 994 points. He was a member of Butler's coaching staff from 2001-13 and was the lead assistant to Brad Stevens for all four of Nored's seasons as a player (which included the back-to-back national championship game appearances in 2010 and 2011).
- Butler's Ronald Nored and Indiana State's Matthew Graves are two of the four Butler graduates currently serving as Division I men's head coaches (joining Baylor's Scott Drew and the Miami RedHawks' Travis Steele).
- Butler and ISU also played an exhibition prior to last season with Butler taking a 105-80 decision.
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UP NEXT: Butler's third and final exhibition of the season takes the Bulldogs to Columbus, Ohio next weekend for a Sunday tip at Ohio State. The 2 p.m. start will be streamed on B1G+.
