Men vs. Loyola
Loyola 50
Butler 63
I was expecting the margin of victory to be larger as the dawgs beat the Loyola Ramblers earlier this season 66-55 at Loyola. One of the reasons that was not the case is that the Dawgs were unable to get defensive rebounds. This allowed Loyola to score on second and third chances. This also prevented the dawgs from putting the Ramblers away and allowed the Ramblers to hang around for most of the game as Butler was only able to sustain a 10 point lead.
At one point during the second half, the Ramblers were making shots while at the same time, Butler was unable to. The Ramblers cut the lead to single digits. Coach Stevens made a lineup change by going with a lineup of players that scorer. He took out Streicher and Betko and put in Campbell and Hahn. The other players on the floor were Graves, Green and Howard. The lineup worked as Campbell hit a 3 point shot right away. On the next possession he shot another trey, but missed it. However, a Bulldog got the rebound and scored on the second chance opportunity.
One decision that Stevens made that concerned me during the game is allowing Willie Veasley to play with 4 fouls. He committed his 4th foul with 8:16 left in the game. Before the Loyala player, J.R. Blount shot a free throw shot for the 3 point play, Stevens made a substitution. Veasley must have heard the horn as headed towards the bench. He looked surprised when he was not taken out the game. Veasley was in and out for the rest of the game, but did not commit foul number 5.
Graves continued to struggle. The Indy Star article about Graves' recent struggle shooting the basketball mentioned that he has played with a sore right foot this month and that the team is not providing anymore details. Perhaps they are doing that so that the opposing teams do not concentrate their defense on another player since Graves is still playing. Maybe the best thing for Graves is to sit out for a game or 2 so it to allow his foot to heal or come off the bench. It is clear that something is affecting his shooting. Tonight he was 2-11 from the filed including 1-8 from behind the 3 point arc for 5 points (he did not shoot any free throws). This adds to my argument why Campbell should start instead of Graves. Campbell scored 15 points including 3-6 from 3 point land. All the Bulldogs who shot more than one trey shot 33% or better. Overall the team was 7-23.
Tonight's official attendance was 3,822. Simply put, this is pathetic. Hinkle should be selling out for every game or at least much closer to a sell out. Coming into the tonight the team was 17-2. The team has also been in the top 25 most of the season. A lot of people have been complaining about the increase in ticket prices this season. This argument that ticket prices are too high was advanced tonight. 2 weeks ago, the dawgs played Green Bay at 9:00 at night there were only 3,226 fans at the game. Due to the start time and the fact that not all students were back from break it makes sense why that number is lower. I was expecting an increase of more than 596 fans for this game compared to the Green Bay game since it started at 7:00 and that classes are in progress. The athletic department needs to keep in mind that Butler is located in a major city where there people have a variety of choices to spend money on entrainment. Yes, a price increase on tickets is understandable considering it has been several years since prices have been increased, but they should not have been increased as much as they were.
The dawgs are now 18-2 (7-2 in the Horizon League.
Next Game: Saturday 2:00 vs. University of Illinois- Chicago at 2:00
Other Game of Note in the Horizon League
Cleveland State 50
UW- Green Bay 59
This means Butler is now a 1/2 game behind Cleveland State for the lead in the league.
Women at Detroit
Butler 72
Detroit 62
Lade Akande led the Bulldogs, who came back from an 11 point deficit, with 27 points. The dawgs are now 13-4 (3-3 in the Horizon League). Their next game is Saturday at Wright State. The game tips off at 1:00.
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I only want to comment to point out that, although the attendance was low, it was not for a lack of student fans. The Dawg Pound was so packed, I was turned away by security and forced to sit upstairs in the bleachers. So student fans have nothing to be ashamed of--we're showing solid support. It's the local community that's not coming out. Also, in fairness, I feel that these games aren't selling out because our competition is so weak. I'm not saying this to try and sound naive or overly confident. I mean it. If we played bigger name schools or other conference teams that realistically could give us a good run for our money, then the games would undoubtedly fill up more. Case in point: the Ohio State game. Just don't be so surprised that fans don't want to come out in hordes to watch our guys beat up on a team like Loyola.
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