Butler Plays Final League Home Game Against UIC
GORDON HAYWARD INTERVIEW (Dan Dakich, 1070 The Fan)
RETURN ENGAGEMENT: Butler, having
clinched the Horizon League regular season title on the road last
weekend, returns home to host UIC on Wednesday, Feb. 17. The
7 p.m. (ET) game in Hinkle Fieldhouse will be televised in
Indianapolis on WNDY-TV. The Bulldogs (23-4) wrapped up the league
regular season championship with a 68-57 victory at Youngstown
State, before winning at Cleveland State, 70-59. The two wins
lifted Butler to 16-0 in league play, tying the league season
record for victories and matching Green Bay (1995-96) for the best
16-game mark in league annals. The road sweep also stretched
the Bulldogs’ current winning streak to 15 consecutive games,
tying the school record set by Butler’s 1999-2000 team.
The Bulldogs have the nation’s second-longest active streak
behind Murray State (16). Butler will be meeting UIC (6-19,
2-13 HL) for the second time this season. The Bulldogs won
the first meeting in Chicago, 84-55, last month. Butler will
play its final regular season home game on Saturday, Feb. 20,
against
Siena.
The Bulldogs have won 18 straight Horizon League regular
season games.
HOME WORK: The Bulldogs are 11-0 in Hinkle
Fieldhouse this season and 26-2 at home over the past two
years. Butler has won 68 of its last 74 home games, including
32 of the last 34 Horizon League contests.
The Bulldogs are 40-3 in Hinkle Fieldhouse under head coach
Brad Stevens.
NATIONAL SCENE: Butler climbed to No. 13 in
the ESPN/USA Today national poll and remained at No. 18 in
the Associated Press (A. P.) “Top 25,” following
wins over Loyola, Youngstown State and Cleveland State last
week. The Bulldogs were ranked in both polls for the first
seven weeks of the season and have been ranked in the ESPN/USA
Today poll for 15 straight weeks. Butler has been ranked in
the “Top 25” each year since 2006-07.
TOP 10: The Bulldogs, owning a 20-win
season for the fifth consecutive year and for the 12th time in the
past 14 years, have tied the eighth-highest single season win total
in school history with 23 victories. The Bulldogs are the
only team in Horizon League history to record five consecutive
20-win seasons and they’ve done it twice!
LAST TIME OUT: Matt Howard and Gordon
Hayward combined for 40 points, including 29 in the second half, to
lead Butler to an 11-point win at Cleveland State in a showdown of
the top two teams in the Horizon League. Hayward drove the
length of the floor in the final three seconds of the first half to
give Butler a 29-27 halftime lead, and the Bulldogs scored eight of
the first 10 points in the second half to maintain the upper
hand. Butler, playing its fifth game in 10 days, led by as
many as 14 points in the final period, while snapping Cleveland
State’s six-game winning streak. It also snapped the
Vikings string of 14 consecutive league wins at home, dating back
to a loss to Butler in December of 2008. Howard finished with
a game-high 21 points, while Hayward added
19.
Butler is 15-0 against teams from Illinois, Indiana and Ohio
this season.
LEAGUE HONOR: Sophomore Gordon Hayward
posted back-to-back double-doubles and helped Butler clinch a
fourth consecutive league regular season title, and that helped him
earn Horizon League Player of the Week recognition. Hayward
led all players with 22 points and a career-high 17 rebounds in
Butler’s victory at Youngstown State. The 17 rebounds
were the most by a Butler player since Feb. 1, 1990, when Rodney
Haywood grabbed 18 rebounds against Marquette. Less than 48
hours later, Hayward posted 19 points and 11 rebounds in
Butler’s victory over Cleveland State. It was the third
time this season that Hayward has been named league Player of the
Week.
Gordon Hayward leads the Horizon League with nine
double-doubles.
DOUBLE STACK: Junior Matt
Howard had game-high totals of 21 points and 13 rebounds
in Butler’s victory at Cleveland State. He joined
teammate Gordon Hayward (19 points, 11 rebounds) to give Butler two
double-doubles in the same game for the first time since December
of 2008, when the same duo accomplished the feat in a win at
Xavier! Howard hit seven of 15 shots from the field and seven
of eight from the free throw line against Cleveland State.
His 13 rebounds matched his season-high, set in November at
Evansville. (Photo by Ben Hornstein)
Matt Howard has scored in double-figures in Butler’s
last seven games.
BOARDING HOUSE: Butler offset 17 turnovers
at Cleveland State with a dominant performance on the glass.
The Bulldogs out-rebounded the host Vikings, 46-20, including a
16-6 advantage in offensive rebounds. In the first half,
Butler had 17 defensive rebounds, while Cleveland State had zero
offensive rebounds! The 46 rebounds were a season-high for
Butler, and the 16 offensive boards were two shy of the
team’s season-high. The Bulldogs finished the game with
a 22-9 advantage in second chance points.
QUICK START: Butler head coach Brad Stevens
has moved into fifth place on the NCAA Division I list for Best
Career Starts By Wins, 3 Seasons. Stevens picked up his 79th
career win at Cleveland State, one more than Chris Lowery of
Southern Illinois had in his first three seasons. The
Bulldogs’ coach is one win shy of Bill Guthridge (North
Carolina) and Everett Case (North Carolina State) in third
place. Mark Fox (Nevada) and Mark Few (Gonzaga) share the top
spot with 81 wins apiece in three seasons.
Brad Stevens reached 75 wins faster than any coach in Butler
history.
SHORT LIST: Brad Stevens is the first
basketball coach in Butler history to record a 20-win campaign in
each of his first three seasons at the helm. He’s the
only Butler coach to have a 30-win season.
GRAND EFFORT: Junior Matt Howard became the
32nd Butler player to score 1,000 career points earlier this
season. His 21 points at Cleveland State boosted his career
scoring total to 1,211 points, good for 21st place on
Butler’s all-time scoring list. The 6-8 forward trails
Tony Warren (1979-83) in 20th place by nine points.
BULLDOG BITS:
•Butler is the only school in the Horizon League to have won
four consecutive regular season championships, and the Bulldogs
have done it twice (2000-03, 2007-10).
•Butler has won its last 19 games when hitting at least nine
three-point field goals. The Bulldogs are 36-1 under head
coach Brad Stevens when hitting nine or more three-pointers in a
game.
•The Bulldogs, who hit 25 of 30 (.833) free throw attempts at
Cleveland State, lead the Horizon League and rank 13th in the NCAA
Division I in team free throw pct. (.750).
•Butler improved to 11-1 on the road this season with the
victories at Youngstown State and Cleveland State. The
Bulldogs are tied with Vermont for the most road wins in the NCAA
Division I.
•Junior Matt Howard has averaged 14.9 points in
Butler’s last seven games. He’s topped 20 points
twice in the past three outings.
•Matt Howard is shooting .586 (34-58) over Butler’s
last seven games.
•Matt Howard stands fourth on Butler’s all-time list
for free throws made with 442. He’s 20 free throws shy
of third place.
•Gordon Hayward leads the Horizon League in free throws made
with 131, while teammate Matt Howard is second with 130.
Hayward is fourth in the league in free throw percentage (.845),
while Howard is 10th (.788).
•Gordon Hayward is the 11th Butler sophomore all-time to
score 400 points. He’s ninth all-time among
Butler’s sophomore scorers with 433 points.
•Gordon Hayward has averaged a team-best 15.3 points during
the squad’s current 15-game winning streak. He scored
20 or more points four times during the streak.
•Gordon Hayward ranks fourth in the Horizon League in scoring
(16.0) and third in rebounding (8.3). He’s the
lone player in the league to rank in the “Top 5” in
both scoring and rebounding.
•Gordon Hayward has averaged 22.7 points and 7.0 rebounds in
three career meetings with UIC.
•Shelvin Mack hit his 100th career three-point field goal at
Youngstown State. He leads the Bulldogs in three-pointers
(43).
•Butler is 21-4 when Shelvin Mack scores at least 14 points
in a game, and 14-1 when the sophomore guard leads the team in
scoring.
•Senior Willie Veasley has shot .565 from the field and
averaged 12.5 points in Hinkle Fieldhouse this season.
•Sophomore Ronald Nored continues to lead the Horizon League
in assist/turnover ratio (2.0). Nored has had 63 assists and
32 turnovers during Butler’s win streak.
•Junior Zach Hahn, who hit two of three three-point field
goal attempts against UIC last month, ranks third in the Horizon
League in three-point field goal shooting (.480) in league games
only.
•The Bulldogs hit a season-low 10 three-point field goal
attempts against Cleveland State last month.
