GAME 11: BUTLER (3-7, 2-5 BIG EAST) VS. #8/#6 CREIGHTON (10-2, 6-1 BIG EAST)
Saturday, Jan. 16; 2PM
Hinkle Fieldhouse; Indianapolis, Ind.
TV: FS1 - @MattSchumacker_ & @NickBahe
Radio: 93.5FM/107.5FM/1070AM - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
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• All three of Butler’s wins have come at Hinkle Fieldhouse this season.
• Jair Bolden leads the BIG EAST at 3.1 three-pointers per game.
• Bryce Nze pulled down 14 rebounds Tuesday at St. John’s, his best output in a Butler uniform (he had 17 rebounds in a game while at Milwaukee)
• Six different Bulldogs have led the team in scoring over the team’s first 10 games.
• Four of Butler’s top eight players in minutes played this season are true freshmen.
• Four different Bulldogs have posted 20-point games for Butler so far this season.
• Aaron Thompson has shot 50 percent or better in each game he has played this season.
• Only three Bulldogs have appeared in all 10 games this season.
• Freshmen have scored 38 percent of Butler’s points so far this season.
• Myles Tate played all 40 minutes at St. John’s Tuesday night.
• Aaron Thompson tied a season-high with six assists vs. UConn Saturday.
• Butler committed a season-high 16 turnovers in Tuesday’s loss at St. John’s.
• Chuck Harris has scored in double figures in six of his first nine college games.
• Tate scored a career-high 22 points at Seton Hall Jan. 2.
• Butler shot a season-best 11-of-22 from three-point range at Seton Hall.
• JaKobe Coles (meniscus - left knee) is out indefinitely.
• Nze ranks ninth in the BIG EAST at 7.4 rebounds per game.
• Bolden has led the Bulldogs in scoring in four of his 10 career games in a Butler uniform.
• Bolden is fourth in the BIG EAST in minutes played per game (34.6)
• Butler put five players in double figures in the win over Providence Dec. 23.
• Tate had eight rebounds and seven assists (both career-highs) against Providence Dec. 23.
• Harris posted career-highs of 22 points and six assists vs. Southern Illinois Dec. 21.
THE SERIES: Butler and Creighton have split the season series in each of the last three seasons, with the home team winning all six of those contests. Overall, Creighton leads the all-time series, 12-9. The series dates back to 1933, but 14 of the 21 match-ups have come since both programs joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 season.
In last season’s game at Hinkle Fieldhouse, the Bulldogs held the high-scoring Bluejays to a 4-of-22 mark from three-point range in a 71-57 win (Jan. 4, 2020).
Creighton Leads, 12-9
Streak: Creighton, W1
At Hinkle Fieldhouse: Butler Leads, 7-3
LaVall Jordan (at BU) vs. Creighton: 3-3
First Meeting: Creighton, 27-22; 1/30/33 (at CU)
Last Meeting: Creighton, 81-59; 2/23/20 (at CU)
BACK-TO-BACK: Redshirt senior Bryce Nze has put together two of the most notable performances of his Butler career over the team’s last two games. Nze pulled down 14 rebounds Tuesday at St. John’s. It was his highest total in a Butler uniform (although he had 17 in a game while playing at Milwaukee). In the previous game, Nze had 18 points vs. UConn, tying his Butler scoring high (he previously scored 25 points in a game while at Milwaukee).
YOUNG GUNS: The highest-rated recruiting class in Butler history has lived up to the billing so far. Four true freshmen are among the top eight Bulldogs in terms of minutes played through Butler’s first 10 games. Chuck Harris, Myles Tate and JaKobe Coles (who is currently sidelined with a meniscus injury) have each scored in double figures in multiple games so far this season and all three have led the team in scoring in a game so far this season. In a six-point game midway through the second half at No. 7 Villanova Dec. 16, coach LaVall Jordan employed a line-up of his four freshmen alongside John-Michael Mulloy, who played a total of 76 minutes as a freshman last season.
Harris was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week by the conference office Dec. 28. Harris is the third Bulldog to earn Freshman of the Week honors since the Bulldogs joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 season. He joins Kelan Martin (final week of the 2014-15 regular season) and Kamar Baldwin (twice during the 2016-17 season) on that list.
For the season, Harris is third among the Bulldogs with an average of 11.1 points per game. He has scored in double figures in six of his nine collegiate contests. He led Butler with 18 points vs. Georgetown. Among true freshmen in the BIG EAST, only Marquette’s Dawson Garcia (at 13.5 points per game) is averaging more.
Tate recorded a career-high 22 points Jan. 2 at Seton Hall. His output included a career-best five three-pointers. He added five assists. For his efforts, he picked up a spot on the BIG EAST weekly honor roll.
Tate became the fourth different Bulldog (and second true freshman) to register a game of 20 or more points through the team’s first seven games. Last season, only Kamar Baldwin and Sean McDermott scored more than 20 points in a game.
Tate is among three true freshman who led the team in scoring through the first seven games of the season.
This is only the third season since 2008-09 that three true freshmen have started a game for Butler: 2020-21 (Tate, Harris, Coles); 2011-12 (Roosevelt Jones, Kameron Woods, Jackson Aldridge); and 2008-09 (Gordon Hayward, Shelvin Mack, Ron Nored).
TIGHT SQUEEZE: Butler turned the ball over a season-high 16 times at St. John’s in Tuesday’s loss. The Bulldogs entered the game among the nation’s best at taking care of the ball, highlighted by committing only six turnovers in the Jan. 6 win over Georgetown, matching the team’s fewest turnovers in a game so far this season. Butler’s average of only 11.6 turnovers per game is now just outside the Top 50 nationally.
This continues a strong trend from last season. Butler had 14 games last season with 10 or fewer turnovers.
YOU WANT HIM BEHIND THAT LINE; YOU NEED HIM BEHIND THAT LINE: Graduate transfer Jair Bolden is off to a hot start in his Butler career. Bolden’s average of 3.1 three-pointers per game leads the BIG EAST (and 29th nationally), while his three-point percentage of 43.1 percent is in the Top 50 nationally. Bolden is tied for the team scoring lead at 13.4 points per game.
Bolden’s production from behind the arc has been increasingly important as the Bulldogs only return players who made 21 of the team’s 212 three-pointers in 2019-20.
MIRROR IMAGE: Through Butler’s 10 games, the Bulldogs and their opponents are precisely even in both rebounds (each registering 321) and turnovers committing (each posting 116).
FILLING THE STAT SHEET: In playing all 40 minutes at St. John’s Tuesday night, freshman Myles Tate scored eight points to go along with six rebounds and four assists. Tate has four games with at least four rebounds and four games with at least four assists. The St. John’s game was the second of his young career where he had at least four rebounds and at least four assists in the same contest.
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