Saturday's Games

The #25 ranked men's basketball team won tonight in Evansville 60-47. A.J. Graves with 22 points was the only player in double digits for the Bulldogs. Drew Streicher scored 8 points. Pete Campbell, Mike Green and Zach Hahn scored 7 points each.

Evansville dominated the first half of the game. Evansville had the lead early in the first half 10-3 then the Bulldogs came from behind to take a 31-28 lead in the locker room while in the process 7 lead changes occurred. The Bulldog ended the half on a high note as A.J. Graves hit a trey with 3 seconds left in the half.

The Bulldogs stated off slow again in the second half leading 35-32 with 17 minutes reaming in the half. The Bulldogs dominated the rest of the way as Drew Streicher and A.J. Graves each hit treys to extended the lead to 41-32. From there Butler had at least a 7 point lead for the rest of the game.

The Bulldogs remained unbeaten and are 3-0. Evansville remained winless and are now 0-2.

The Bulldogs leave Monday to travel to Alaska for the Great Alaskan Shootout tournament. Their first game is 11:30 (ET) Wednesday night against the University of Michigan. The game can be seen on ESPN2.

One thing that concerned me about tonight's game is the slow start. There will be games in the future that if the Bulldogs start out slow, their chances of winning will be significantly reduced. This is particularly true for games on the road where the environment can be very hostile.

The Bulldogs must also be careful not get into foul trouble. Mike Green and Matt Howard where in foul trouble tonight. Howard fouled out late in the game. Sometimes this cannot be avoided when the officiating is poor. The radio commentators questioned a few of the calls tonight. However, this is not excuse for every single foul.

I found it very odd that when Butler was leading by 15 with less than one minute in the game that Evansville began to use full court press. They deserve credit for not giving up; however, realistically, they were not going to get 15 points in 1 minute.

One statistic that was discussed in the post game show on the radio is rebounding. Butler won the battle of the boards tonight 28-26. This is a good sign for the Bulldogs as they had this generates second and third chance points when the rebound is offensive and prevents the opposing team from having second and third chances to score in 1 possession. If the Bulldogs keep having the winning the rebound battle, it will help them win games.

The Women's basketball team was also played tonight. They lost to #23 Purdue in West Lafayette 69 to 53. The Bulldogs were lead by Susan Lester who scored all 14 of her points in the second half. Brittany Bowen was the only other Bulldog in double figures with 11 points.

The Bulldogs stated the game lead early in the game 3-2, however Purdue took the lead. At one point Purdue lead 27-8. A halftime the Bulldogs trailed by 10.

During the second half the Bulldogs attempted to come back after Purdue stated the half by scoring 14 points. The Bulldogs immediately responded by scoring 14 points. During the second half, they where only able to cut Purdue's lead to 11.

During the game the Bulldogs shot 26.6% from the field and Purdue shot 46.6% from the field. Looking at this statistic it is not surprising the Bulldogs lost.

This was the first lost on the season for the Bulldogs who are now 2-1. Purdue improved to 2-0.

The Bulldogs' next game is in Coral Gables, FL on Friday when they face Monmouth as part of the University of Miami Thanksgiving tournament.