Butler Begins Ohio Swing At Youngstown State
Butler at Youngstown
State
Thursday, February 9, 7 p.m. (ET)
Beeghly Center - Youngstown, Ohio
Game Notes | Live
Stats | Video | Audio
ROAD TEST:
Butler will face two of the top four teams in the Horizon League on
the road this week, beginning with contest at Youngstown State on
Thursday, Feb. 9. The game against the Penguins at the
Beeghly Center will start at 7 p.m. (ET) and will be telecast on
ESPN3. Butler and Youngstown State will be meeting for the
second time in four weeks. The Bulldogs (13-12, 7-6 Horizon
League) won the first meeting at Hinkle Fieldhouse, 71-55, on Jan.
15. Youngstown State (13-10, 8-5 HL), coming off a road
victory at Loyola, is currently tied with Milwaukee for third place
in the Horizon League, and the Penguins have already set a school
record for Horizon League wins with their eight league
victories. Head coach Jerry Slocum’s squad, which
stands 7-2 at the Beeghly Center this season, leads the Horizon
League in three-point field goals with 9.1 made per game, and the
Penguins feature four of the top 11 long-range shooters in the
conference, including league-leader Blake Allen (3.1/game).
The Bulldogs, who have played six of their past 10 games on the
road, will close out their two-game trip to Ohio at league-leading
Cleveland State on Saturday, Feb.
11.
Butler is 3-1 at the Beeghly Center under head coach Brad
Stevens.
SPLIT DECISION: Butler, playing at home for
the first time since Jan. 15, came away with a two-game split last
week. The Bulldogs defeated Wright State, 64-53, on Thursday
(Feb. 2), before dropping a 65-61 decision to Detroit on Saturday
(Feb. 4). The two outcomes left Butler in a tie with Detroit
for fifth place in the league standings, one game behind Milwaukee
and Youngstown State in a tie for third place.
MASH UNIT: The Bulldogs had a rough 24
hours leading up to halftime of the Detroit game. In practice
the day before the Detroit contest, starters Ronald Nored and Khyle
Marshall collided during a drill. Both were helped off the
court, and both sat out the rest of the practice. Marshall
was sidelined for the Detroit game with concussion symptoms, while
Nored was cleared to play against the Titans. Three minutes
into the Detroit contest, Nored dove for a loose ball and crashed
face-first into the floor. He suffered a broken front tooth
and a cut lower lip. The 6-0 senior left the game, but
returned 11 minutes later with a badly swollen lip and a partial
front tooth. Marshall’s status will be evaluated
throughout the week.
LAST OUTING: Butler missed five shots in
the final minute, including a pair of three-point field goal
attempts that would have tied the game, and wound up dropping a
four-point decision to visiting Detroit. The Bulldogs battled
back from a nine-point, second half deficit and trailed by just
three, 62-59, with less than a minute to play. But three
missed lay-ups and the two missed three-pointers on three
possessions in the final 0:45 ended Butler’s comeback
attempt. The Bulldogs, who had their second-best shooting
performance (46.7%) of the season two nights earlier in their
victory over Wright State, shot just 35.3% (18-51) against Detroit,
including just 21% (4-19) from beyond the three-point
arc.
INSIDE JOB: Butler picked up a pair of
double-figures scoring performances from junior Andrew Smith (above
right) during the team’s brief, two-game homestand.
Smith was perfect from the field (4-4) and from the free throw line
(2-2), while scoring 11 points in the Bulldogs’ victory over
Wright State. He followed that with a team-high, 18-point
performance against Detroit. The 6-11 center hit 10 of 13
(.769) shots in the two games and eight of 10 free throws.
His effort against Detroit was his highest single game output since
Jan. 15, when he scored 20 points in Butler’s victory over
Youngstown State.
Andrew Smith ranks seventh in the Horizon League in FG%
(.525).
CAREER MOVES: Senior Ronald Nored, who
moved into fourth place on Butler’s all-time assist chart
during the Bulldogs’ victory over Wright State, matched his
career-high with nine assists against Detroit. It was the
second time in five games that the Butler point-guard recorded nine
assists, and it boosted his career total to 423 assists. He
trails Jeff Rogers (1994-98) in third place on the all-time chart
by 34 assists. Thomas Jackson (1998-2002) is Butler’s
all-time leader with 540 career assists.
Ronald Nored has had career-highs
for points (18), rebounds (9) and assists (9) in Butler’s
last 13 games.
MATCH GAME: Since Christmas, freshman
Roosevelt Jones (right) has recorded career-highs for both points
and rebounds. Against Detroit, he matched both. Jones
led all players in the game with a career-high 12 rebounds, and he
finished second on the team in scoring with a career-best 16
points. It was his second career double-double and the fourth
time this season that he’s had at least 11 rebounds in a
game.
CENTURY CLUB: Ronald Nored and Garrett
Butcher became just the fourth senior class in Butler basketball
history to record 100 career victories. The two have helped
Butler to a 100-32 record during their time in the program.
Willie Veasley and Nick Rodgers (2006-10) are Butler’s
all-time winningest class with 118 victories, while Matt Howard,
Zach Hahn, Shawn Vanzant, Grant Leiendecker and Alex Anglin
(2007-11) finished with 117. The class of Darnell Archey,
Joel Cornette, Lewis Curry and Mike Moore (1999-2003) finished with
100 wins.
TOP TEN: Brad Stevens became the tenth
coach in Horizon League history to record 125 career victories
while a member of the league earlier this season. He enters
Butler’s game at Youngstown State with 130 career wins, one
behind his former boss, Todd Lickliter (2001-07) in ninth place on
the league’s overall wins list. Perry Watson of Detroit
owns the league record with 261 victories from 1993 to 2008.
AWARD FINALIST: Senior Ronald Nored has
been named one of 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS
Award, presented for notable achievement in four areas of
excellence - community, classroom, character and competition.
Nored, a four-year starter, has excelled in the classroom, on the
court and in the community during his four seasons with the
Bulldogs. He earned first team Horizon League Academic
All-League honors last year, and he’s a former Horizon League
Co-Defensive Player of the Year. He’s one of two
current collegiate players to see action in each of the past two
Division I national championship games. Nored is the second
Butler player in two years to be named a finalist for the
Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. Matt Howard was honored at
the 2011 Final Four as one of 10 finalists for last season’s
award.
LOOKING AHEAD: Butler will face longtime
foe Indiana State in this year’s Sears BracketBuster X on
Saturday, Feb. 18. The game at Hinkle Fieldhouse will tip at
2 p.m. (ET) and will be televised on WNDY-TV. Butler and
Indiana State, former conference opponents in the Indiana
Collegiate Conference (1950-77), have played 123 times through the
years, with the last meeting coming in 2007-08. The Bulldogs,
4-3 all-time in BracketBusters’ games, are returning to the
late season event after a one-year absence.
BULLDOG BITS:
•Senior Ronald Nored had three steals on Butler’s brief
homestand, boosting his career total to 191. He stands second
on Butler’s all-time list for thefts behind career-leader
Thomas Jackson (207 from 1998-2002).
•Ronald Nored ranks third in the Horizon League in steals
(2.0).
•Ronald Nored ranks second in the Horizon League in assists
(4.8) and stands third in assist/turnover ratio (1.8). Nored
has had 25 assists and 11 turnovers in Butler’s last five
games.
•Ronald Nored is shooting a team-best .429 (9-21) from beyond
the three-point arc in Butler’s 11 road games this
season.
•Ronald Nored has hit 25 of his last 27 free throw
attempts. He’s shooting .923 from the free throw line
over Butler’s last five games.
•Ronald Nored matched his career-high with nine rebounds
against Youngstown State last month.
•Junior Andrew Smith has shot .604 from the field, .529 from
beyond the three-point arc and averaged 12.8 points in
Butler’s 13 wins this season.
•Andrew Smith is averaging a team-best 11.1 points against
league foes.
•Andrew Smith had 11 points and six rebounds in
Butler’s game at the Beeghly Center last year.
•Sophomore Khyle Marshall continues to lead the Bulldogs in
field goal shooting (.552). He ranks fourth in the Horizon
League.
•Khyle Marshall has been Butler’s leading scorer on the
road this season with a 10.4 average.
•Sophomore Chrishawn Hopkins has hit 17 consecutive free
throws.
•Sophomore Erik Fromm, who played less than a minute against
Youngstown State last month, has had 10 points each against Green
Bay, Wright State and Detroit in Butler’s last three
games.
•Freshman Roosevelt Jones leads the Bulldogs and ranks
seventh in the Horizon League in rebounding (6.1).
•Roosevelt Jones has scored a career-high 16 points in three
of Butler’s last six games.
•Roosevelt Jones ranks third in the Horizon League in
offensive rebounds (2.6). Jones had eight offensive rebounds
in Butler’s two games last week.
•Freshman Kameron Woods came off the bench with 10 points and
10 rebounds against Youngstown State last month.
•Butler head coach Brad Stevens is tied for seventh place on
the Horizon League’s all-time list for league wins with Rob
Jeter of Milwaukee. Both enter this week with 69 career
league victories, three behind Loyola’s Gene Sullivan
(1980-89) in sixth place on the all-time list.
