Bulldogs Host First-Time Visitor Stanford
HOLIDAY HOST: Butler will face a
first-time visitor for the second consecutive game when it hosts
Stanford in a non-league test on Saturday, Dec. 18. The game
will tip at 2:05 p.m. (ET) and will be nationally-televised on
CBS. Butler snapped a two-game skid and improved to 5-4 on
the season with a 91-71 win over Mississippi Valley State on
Saturday (Dec. 11). It was the first visit by the Delta
Devils to Butler’s historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. Stanford
(6-2) also is making its first visit to Butler’s
homecourt. The contest is the first of a two-game contract,
which will send the Bulldogs to California next season. Stanford,
boasting a three-game winning streak, is the first Pac-10 team to
play in Hinkle Fieldhouse since 1965, when USC made the long trek
to Butler’s homecourt. The Stanford game will be
Butler’s final home contest of 2010. The Bulldogs will
close out the year in Hawaii at the 2010 Diamond Head Classic,
which begins on Wednesday, Dec.
22.
Butler began 2010 with an 80-67 victory at home over
Milwaukee.
TV FIRST: Stanford won’t be the only
first-time visitor to Butler’s homecourt on Saturday.
CBS will be broadcasting a game from Hinkle Fieldhouse for the
first time. Greg Gumbel will handle play-by-play duties on
the telecast, while Greg Anthony will be the analyst. Butler
has had nine appearances on CBS during the NCAA Tournament over the
past three seasons.
HOME TURF: The Bulldogs, who were 15-0 in
Hinkle Fieldhouse a year ago, improved to 3-1 at home this season
with their victory over Mississippi Valley State.
Butler was 30-2 at home in the previous two seasons and had a
17-game homecourt winning streak, prior to an overtime loss to
Evansville on Nov. 27. The Bulldogs are 47-4 at home in four
seasons under head coach Brad Stevens.
FAMILIAR SURROUNDINGS: Butler is averaging
82.5 points and yielding 62.8 points in four home games this
season. In five games away from Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler is
averaging 65.4 points and giving up 68.2. The Bulldogs are
shooting .448 from the field and .798 from the free throw line in
the Fieldhouse this season.
LAST TIME OUT: Butler rebounded from
back-to-back losses to No. 1 Duke and Xavier to post its highest
point total of the season in a 91-71 victory over Mississippi
Valley State at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Bulldogs bolted to a
48-25 advantage by halftime and then held off the hot-shooting
Delta Devils with 43 more points in the second half. The
visitors shot 58% (18-31) in the final period and 51% (27-53) for
the game but were unable to get closer than 20 points in the final
20 minutes. All 14 Butler players saw action in the game, and
12 Bulldogs broke into the scoring column. Senior forward
Matt Howard led all players with a season-high 26 points, while
junior Shelvin Mack added a dozen. Mississippi Valley State,
which led just once at 3-2, was topped by Terrence Joyner and Kevin
Burwell with 13 points apiece.
POINTING UP: Senior Matt
Howard led the Bulldogs in scoring for the fifth time in
the last six games with 26 points against Mississippi Valley
State. It was the highest scoring total for the 6-8 forward
since he tallied a career-high 30 points against Loyola during his
sophomore season. Howard hit seven of 10 shots from the field
and 12 of 13 from the free throw line in Butler’s win over
Mississippi Valley State. He also had four rebounds and
season-highs of three assists and two blocked shots in the
victory.
Matt Howard is averaging 16.8 points in Hinkle Fieldhouse this
season.
BALANCING ACT: Butler head coach Brad
Stevens used his entire roster against Mississippi Valley State,
and only two Bulldogs (forward Matt Howard and guard Shelvin Mack)
played more than 23 minutes. The Bulldogs scored a
season-high 91 points, despite having only two players reach
double-figures. Seven different players contributed to 29
bench points for the Bulldogs, led by freshman Chrishawn Hopkins
with six.
Butler has nine players averaging 11 or more minutes per
game.
CHARITABLE SEASON: For the second straight
game, the Bulldogs were “red-hot” at the free throw
line. Butler hit 15 of its first 17 free throw attempts
against Mississippi Valley State and a season-best 29 of 32 (.906)
for the game. The Bulldogs finished the contest by connecting
on their final 12 attempts from the charity stripe. Eight
different players contributed to Butler’s success at the
line, led by senior Matt Howard’s 12 of 13 shooting.
One game earlier, the Bulldogs made their first 16 free throw
attempts at Xavier, before finishing the game with a 16 of 18
(.889) effort.
Butler leads the Horizon League in team free throw shooting
(.736).
HANDLE WITH CARE: Butler matched its
season-low with just six turnovers against Mississippi Valley
State. The Bulldogs didn’t commit their first turnover
until 4:40 remained in the first half, and Butler had just two
turnovers in the first 20 minutes. Butler also had just six
turnovers against Marian.
Butler is second in the Horizon League in fewest turnovers per
game (11.6).
CLOSING IN: Senior Matt Howard stands in the
No. 11 spot on Butler’s all-time scoring list with 1,482
career points. He needs three points to catch Jon Neuhouser
(1994-08) in the No. 10 spot on the all-time list. Howard has
moved into the No. 10 position on Butler’s all-time
rebounding list with 660 career rebounds. Three former
players (Chad Tucker, Lynn Mitchem and Darren Fowlkes) currently
rank in Butler’s all-time “Top 10” for both
scoring and rebounding.
SCORING CLIMB: Junior Shelvin Mack became
the 33rd Butler player to score 1,000 career points, during the
Bulldogs’ game against Evansville. He enters this
weekend’s game against Stanford in 30th place on
Butler’s all-time scoring chart with 1,051 career points, 35
points behind Avery Sheets (2002-06) in 29th place on the
Bulldogs’ career chart.
EARLY CHALLENGES: Xavier, a “Sweet
16” team a year ago, was the fourth team Butler has faced
this season from last year’s NCAA Tournament. The
Bulldogs also have played Louisville, Siena and defending national
champ Duke, all away from Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Bulldogs
could face a couple more NCAA Tournament teams next week in Hawaii
with Florida State and Baylor in the Diamond Head Classic
field.
BULLDOG BITS:
•Senior Matt Howard has scored in 113 consecutive Butler
games, every game of his collegiate career.
•Matt Howard recorded his eighth straight game in
double-figures this season with his 26 points against Mississippi
Valley State. Howard has averaged 19.5 points over
Butler’s last eight games.
•Matt Howard is shooting .613 (19-31) from the field in four
games at Hinkle Fieldhouse this season. He’s hit 12 of
18 (.667) shots in his last two home games.
•Matt Howard currently ranks third in the Horizon League in
both scoring (16.9) and rebounding (7.9). Howard stands sixth in
the league in field goal percentage (.540).
•Matt Howard, who had made just five three-point field goals
prior to this season, has hit eight of 16 long range shots this
season. He’s connected on six straight
three-pointers.
•Matt Howard is leading the Bulldogs, and he ranks sixth in
the Horizon League in free throw shooting (.833). Howard has
hit 28 of 32 free throws (.875) in four games at Hinkle Fieldhouse
this season.
•Matt Howard is one of 30 candidates nominated for the 2010-11
Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. The award is presented to
one senior who has shown notable achievement in four areas of
excellence - classroom, character, community and competition.
•Junior Shelvin Mack matched his career-high with eight
assists against Mississippi Valley State. He’s 21
assists shy of Darren Fowlkes (1985-89) in 10th place on
Butler’s all-time assist chart.
•Shelvin Mack scored all 12 of his points against Mississippi
Valley State in the first half. It was his seventh
double-figures scoring performance this season.
•Shelvin Mack has 143 career three-point field goals.
He’s 15 three-pointers behind Darrin Fitzgerald (1986-87) in
10th place on Butler’s all-time list for three-point field
goals.
•The Bulldogs are 30-6 when Shelvin Mack scores at least 14
points and 19-3 when he leads the team in scoring.
•Shelvin Mack is averaging 16.0 points in Butler’s four
games at Hinkle Fieldhouse this season.
•Junior Ronald Nored had a season-high with nine points
against Mississippi Valley State. It was his highest point
total since last March, when the 6-0 guard tallied 15 points
against Murray State in the second round of the NCAA
Tournament.
•Senior Zach Hahn, who had a pair of three-point field goals
(and six points) against Mississippi Valley State, has a team-high
eight three-pointers in Hinkle Fieldhouse this season.
•Zach Hahn is perfect at the free throw stripe (8-8) in Hinkle
Fieldhouse this season. Hahn has hit 15 of 18 (.833) free
throws on the season, but doesn’t have enough free throws
made (2.0/game) to qualify for league rankings.
•Sophomore Andrew Smith had nine points 23 minutes against
Mississippi Valley State. He hit four of the six shots he
attempted from the field, as well as his lone free throw
attempt.
•Andrew Smith is shooting .650 (13-20) from the field in three
games at Hinkle Fieldhouse this season.
•Freshman Khyle Marshall came off the bench with five points
and five rebounds in 15 minutes against Mississippi Valley
State.
•Freshman Erik Fromm had four points and two rebounds in five
minutes against Mississippi Valley State. He hit all four of
his free throw attempts in the game, and he’s perfect at the
stripe (6-6) in Hinkle Fieldhouse this season.
•Senior Shawn Vanzant is shooting .579 (11-19) at Hinkle
Fieldhouse this season, including 50% (3-6) from 3-point range.
•Freshman Chrishawn Hopkins matched his career scoring-high
with six points in a career-high 14 minutes against Mississippi
Valley State. Hopkins also had six points against Marian at
Hinkle Fieldhouse in his first collegiate game.
•The Bulldogs topped 90 points for just the second time under
head coach Brad Stevens with their 91-point performance against
Mississippi Valley State. Butler also scored 91 points in a
victory over Youngstown State at Hinkle Fieldhouse last
January.
•Butler’s 29 free throws made against Mississippi Valley
State matched the third-highest single game total under head coach
Brad Stevens. The Bulldogs made 36 free throws against
Minnesota and 31 against Evansville in back-to-back games last
year. Butler also made 29 free throws against Green Bay in
2007-08.
•Butler has won its last 24 games when hitting at least nine
three-point field goals.
•The Bulldogs are 41-1 under head coach Brad Stevens when
hitting nine or more three-pointers. Butler currently is
third in the Horizon League in three-point field goals per game
(7.0).
•The Bulldogs had won 23 consecutive games when yielding fewer
than 60 points, prior to the Xavier contest. Butler has held
four of its first nine opponents this season under 60 points.
•Butler is one of just three NCAA Division I schools to win at
least 25 games in each of the last four seasons. The other
two are Kansas and BYU.
