Butler Starts Homestand With Oakland City

Butler vs. Oakland City
Tuesday, November 29, 7 p.m. (ET)
Hinkle Fieldhouse - Indianapolis, Ind.
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HOME RUN:  Butler will play its next three games at home, beginning with a non-league contest against NCAA Division II foe Oakland City on Tuesday, Nov. 29.  That game at Hinkle Fieldhouse will start at 7 p.m. (ET) and will be televised on WNDY-TV.  The Bulldogs are looking to bounce back from a 75-59 loss to Indiana in the title game of the Hoosier Invitational on Sunday (Nov. 27).  Unbeaten Indiana used a hot-shooting final 20 minutes to pull away from the Bulldogs and capture the five-team tournament crown.  The loss dropped Butler to 3-3 on the young season, only the Bulldogs’ second .500 record after two games in five seasons under head coach Brad Stevens.  Oakland City (3-2) opened the season with back-to-back wins, before dropping games at  Evansville and to Maryville.  The Mighty Oaks defeated Central Christian on Saturday (Nov. 26) in their last outing.    The Oakland City game will be Butler’s final pre-conference tune-up.  The Bulldogs host Horizon League foe Valparaiso on Saturday (Dec. 3).                        

Butler is 59-6 at Hinkle Fieldhouse under head coach Brad Stevens.

IN THE ‘HOUSE:  Butler has seven of its first nine games this season at Hinkle Fieldhouse.  The Bulldogs, who ended last season with a five-game homecourt winning streak, have wins in eight of their last nine home contests, with the lone setback coming to No. 7 Louisville.  Overall, the Bulldogs have won 30 of their last 33 Hinkle Fieldhouse games.

Butler is 20-3 against non-league foes at home under head coach Brad Stevens.

HOOSIER INVITATIONAL:  Indiana won the Hoosier Invitational championship with a perfect 4-0 record, while Butler finished runner-up in the five-team event with a 3-1 mark.   Chattanooga, Gardner-Webb and Savannah State each finished the tournament with a 1-3 record.  Indiana played all four of its games at home, Butler played three home contests and the remaining three games were played at Chattanooga.

BUSY SLATE:  The game against Oakland City will be the Bulldogs’ fifth contest in 11 days.  Butler played home games against No. 7 Louisville (Nov. 19), Savannah State (Nov. 21) and Gardner-Webb (Nov. 23) right before Thanksgiving and then visited Indiana on Sunday (Nov. 27).  The Bulldogs are playing on one day’s rest for the third time in the past 11 days.
 
TITLE GAME:  Unbeaten Indiana shot 50% from the field (11-22), including three of three from beyond the three-point arc, and out-scored the Bulldogs, 44-31, in the second half to claim the 2011 Hoosier Invitational championship trophy.  The Bulldogs took a 32-31 lead on a lay-up by sophomore Chrishawn Hopkins with 19 minutes remaining in the game, but Indiana responded with a 7-0 run to go back on top for good.  The Hoosiers, who stretched their margin to as many as 21 points in the closing minutes, held off any Butler comeback attempts by hitting 19 of 22 (.864) free throw attempts in the final 18 minutes.
 
TOURNAMENT HONOR:  Butler guard Chrishawn Hopkins, who led the Bulldogs in scoring with 19 points, was named to the Hoosier Invitational All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the championship game.  Also selected top the tournament honor squad were Indiana players Will Sheehey (MVP), Cody Zeller, Jordan Hulls and Victor Oladipo.  Hopkins averaged 13.3 points in Butler’s four tournament games, and he led the Bulldogs in scoring in the team’s final two tournament contests.   

BENCH LIFT:  Sophomore Khyle Marshall (left) came off the bench for the first time this season and wound up matching the second-highest point total of his Butler career with 16 points against Indiana.  Marshall, a starter in Butler’s first five games, hit seven of nine shots from the floor and one of two from the free throw line for his total.  He scored 10 of his points in the final 20 minutes of the contest.  Marshall also had four rebounds, an assist an a blocked shots in 28 minutes of action against the Hoosiers.

Khyle Marshall hit his first collegiate three-point field goal in Butler’s game at Indiana.

THEFT RING:  Senior co-captain Ronald Nored, who has had three or more steals in five of Butler’s first six games, matched his career-high in theft with five at Indiana.  The former Horizon League Co-Defensive Player of the Year helped lead the Bulldogs to a season-high 13 steals for the game. Nored led the Bulldogs with three steals against Evansville, four against Chattanooga, three against Louisville and four against Savannah State, prior to the Indiana game.  His five steals against the Hoosiers matched his best career performance, set against Syracuse in the 2010 NCAA Tournament and against Valparaiso in 2009.  Nored, who’s been named to the Horizon League All-Defensive Team for two consecutive years, has topped the Bulldogs in steals for two straight seasons, and he’s heading into the Oakland City game with 161 career thefts.  Butler’s all-time record is 207 steals, set by Thomas Jackson, 1998-02.

PASSING LEADER:  Senior Ronald Nored, who had a team-high 19 assists in Butler’s four Hoosier Invitational games, edged closer to the “Top 5” on the Bulldogs’ all-time assist chart. Nored currently stands in sixth place on Butler’s all-time list with 334 career assists.  He’s 35 assists shy of former teammate Shelvin Mack (2008-11) in the No. 5 spot on the career list.

Butler All-Time Assist Chart
    540    Thomas Jackson, 1998-2002
    471    Tim Bowen, 1989-93
    457    Jeff Rogers, 1994-98
    411    Darrin Fitzgerald, 1983-87
    357    Shelvin Mack, 2008-11
    334    Ronald Nored, 2008-
    323    Avery Sheets, 2002-06
    316    Mike Green, 2006-08
    316    A. J. Graves, 2004-08
    310    Mike Monserez, 2001-04

SCORING LEAD:  Sophomore Chrishawn Hopkins became the first Butler player to lead the Bulldogs in scoring in two consecutive games this season with his 19-point performance against Indiana.  Hopkins also had a team-high 22 points against Gardner-Webb, one game earlier.  In the first six games this season, Hopkins had topped the Bulldogs in scoring three times, junior Andrew Smith has led the team twice and sophomore Khyle Marshall has been the scoring leader once.

Chrishawn Hopkins and Andrew Smith each have posted four double-figures scoring performances this season.

TURNOVER TURNABOUT:  Just one game after committing a season-low four turnovers in a victory over Gardner-Webb, Butler was charged with a season-high 21 turnovers against Indiana.  The four miscues were the fewest turnovers by a Butler team since Feb. 25, 2006, when the Bulldogs committed four turnovers against Detroit.  The last time the Bulldogs had fewer turnovers was on Jan. 25, 2003, when Butler finished with three against Green Bay.  The 21 turnovers were the most by a Butler team since Feb. 4, 2010, when the Bulldogs committed 21 against Detroit.
                  
BOARD ROOM:  The Bulldogs matched their season-high with 34 rebounds at Indiana.  Included in that total was a season-high 16 offensive rebounds.  Junior Andrew Smith topped the Bulldogs in rebounding for the fourth time in six games, finishing with seven total boards, while senior Garrett Butcher, getting his first start of the season, added six rebounds, including five offensive boards. Freshman Roosevelt Jones came off the bench with five rebounds.  The Bulldogs also pulled down 34 rebounds against Chattanooga in the first game of the Hoosier Invitational.

COACHING WINS:  Head coach Brad Stevens, who’s in just his fifth season at the Bulldogs’ helm, currently stands fifth on Butler’s all-time list for coaching victories.  The young Butler coach enters this week’s action with a 120-28 career record.  Stevens’ former boss, Todd Lickliter, is fourth on Butler’s all-time list for coaching victories with 131 in six seasons, 2001-07.

BULLDOG BITS:

•Butler’s Ronald Nored is one of 30 candidates nominated for the 2011-12 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.  Former teammate Matt Howard was one of 10 finalists for the award a year ago.

•Ronald Nored has been named to the 25-player Lou Henson Preseason All-America Team.  The CollegeInsider.com team honors the top Mid-Major players in the nation. Nored joined Detroit’s Ray McCallum as the lone Horizon League players selected to this year’s preseason squad.  Butler’s Matt Howard was named the Lou Henson Player of the Year last season.

•Ronald Nored ranks second in the Horizon League in steals, behind D’Aundray Brown of Cleveland State.  Nored has 20 steals in six games (3.3), while Brown has 26 in seven contests (3.7)

•Junior Andrew Smith hit his fifth three-point field goal this season for his only points at Indiana.  Smith had attempted just one three-point field goal prior to this season.

•Andrew Smith is leading the Bulldogs with 14 offensive rebounds through the first six games.  He had two offensive boards in Butler’s game at Indiana.  He stands 10th in the Horizon League in offensive rebounds.

•Andrew Smith and junior Chase Stigall are leading Butler in scoring at Hinkle Fieldhouse.  Both players have tallied 42 points (10.5) in Butler’s four home games this season.

•Chase Stigall had a streak of three straight games in double-figures snapped, when he scored just six points at Indiana.  It was the first time in his collegiate career that he had consecutive double-figures scoring performances.

•Chase Stigall has hit 10 of his team-high 11 three-point field goals this season in Hinkle Fieldhouse.  Stigall hit a career-high four three-pointers against Gardner-Webb in his last home game.

•Sophomore Khyle Marshall, who hit seven of nine shots at Indiana, is leading the Horizon League in field goal shooting.  The 6-6 Butler forward has hit 25 of 36 shots (.694) in Butler’s first six games.  Marshall is shooting 77% (10-13) away from Hinkle Fieldhouse this year.

•Sophomore Chrishawn Hopkins hit all four of his free throw attempts at Indiana, and he stands third in the Horizon League in free throw shooting (.889). Hopkins has made his last 13 charity attempts.

•Senior co-captain Garrett Butcher played in his 100th career game at Indiana.  Butcher was in Butler’s starting lineup for the contest, which was played just minutes from his home in Ellettsville.

•The Bulldogs are 50-4 in regular season play under coach Brad Stevens when hitting nine or more three-point field goals in a game.

•Butler is one of just three NCAA Division I schools to win at least 25 games in each of the last five seasons.  The other two are Kansas and BYU.

•Butler head coach Brad Stevens landed three recruits on the first day of the NCAA’s fall signing period.  Joining the Bulldogs’ 2012-13 freshman class were 6-5 Kellen Dunham of Pendleton Heights, 6-3 Devontae Morgan of Tampa, Fla., and 5-11 Chris Harrison-Docks of Okemos, Mich.  Dunham averaged 23.6 points and shot 43% from three-point range as a junior at Pendleton Heights High School, while Morgan averaged 17.3 points and 8.2 rebounds during his junior season at Tampa Prep.  Harrison-Docks averaged 23.0 points at Okemos High School.