PC Hoping to Snag a Big East Win Against Butler

PC Hoping to Snag a Big East Win Against Butler

After going 0-3 in the last two weeks against tough Big East foes, the PC Friars are looking to snag a win against struggling Butler and improve their Big East record to 2-3.  If there ever was a golden opportunity for the Friars to get back on the winning track, it is Wednesday night’s 8:30 PM game at home against the Butler Bulldogs.

While the Friars are on a 4-game losing streak, the Butler Bulldogs have been on a tougher road with a losing streak now at seven games.  The Bulldogs started the season in fine fashion with a 7-1 record, which included a convincing 10-point win over Mississippi State (The Battle of the Bulldogs!), a team that is now ranked #13 in the country.  Ten days later, Butler had the misfortune of traveling to Houston to meet the University of Houston Cougars and got crushed 79-51.  That mega loss sent Butler into a tailspin, and they have not won a game since.

Butler’s losses, accounting for their Big East 0-4 record, have been against Marquette, UConn, Villanova, and St. John’s.  The Bulldogs were competitive in all those games, losing them by an average margin of 7.5 points/game.  The competitiveness of Butler so far in the Big East, the overall metrics of the two teams as seen below, and the desperation of Butler suggests that the Friars should expect a very close battle.

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Like the Friars, Butler has been plagued by a rash of turnovers in many games.  In the St. John’s game, a game ultimately an 8-point loss, Butler had 21 turnovers.  The Friars, as we have seen in the Marquette loss and the Connecticut loss, have allowed their turnovers to absolutely destroy winnable games against ranked opponents.  The Friars presently have the dubious distinction of having fewer assists per game than turnovers per game, 11.8 vs. 12.9.   I can’t recall an assist/turnover ratio for PC—a .91ratio—like that in recent years.  In Big East play, PC’s assist/turnover ratio is even more troublesome.  The Friars are averaging 9.8 assists and 13.8 turnovers in their 4 Big East games for a ratio of 0.71/game, the lowest ratio in the Big East.

Butler’s starting lineup is senior-laden. They are led by 6’7” senior forward Jahmyl Tellfort who averages 15.8 points/game and, surprisingly, also leads the team in assists with 3.5 dishes/game.  Butler has an imposing mature center in 260 lb. senior Andre Screen who is 7’1” and averages 5.8 boards/game and 1.7 blocks/game.

The Friars have a really bad tendency this year to play strong, winnable games against formidable opponents, followed by very poor outings.  Witness the Oklahoma 79-77 loss, followed by the 69-58 loss to lowly Davidson; and the St. John’s 72-70 loss, followed by the embarrassing 78-50 loss to Marquette.  The Friars have just lost a very competitive game against UConn, losing 87-84.  Coach English needs to put the Friars in the right frame of mind, put the UConn loss in the rearview mirror, and play focused solid basketball against Butler.

Some deep state college basketball trivia:  Patrick McCaffery, Butler’s current third-leading scorer at 12.8 pts/game, is the son of Fran McCaffery, the 14-year veteran men’s basketball coach at the University of Iowa.  Patrick played for his father at Iowa before transferring to Butler for a graduate year of eligibility.  Patrick’s brother Connor McCaffery also played at Iowa, is one of Butler’s assistant coaches, and is also the current boyfriend of Caitlin Clark, former all-star with the Iowa women’s team and now the biggest name in the WBNA.  Caitlin who plays for the Indianapolis Fever sometimes attends the Butler home games in Indianapolis to see the McCaffery brothers.  So far, none of Caitlin’s basketball magic has rubbed off on Butler.  You heard about all these connections here first.