Bombs away! Butler basketball catches fire from 3, beats The Citadel by 47 points.

Butler shot the lights out early, using 12 first-half 3 pointers to earn a commanding 89-42 win over The Citadel. The Bulldogs extend their win streak to two ahead of their trip to The Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.

Butler's 17 total 3-pointers were three off the program-record 20 set against Cleveland State in 2007.

Simas Lukosius and Jayden Taylor led Butler (3-1) with 18 points each.

Here's three reasons Butler defeated The Citadel (2-2).

'It was a matter of time': Butler breaks through with scorching 3-point performance

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Bulldogs stay hot

The ball moves with such purpose around the perimeter when the entire team is shooting with confidence. Against The Citadel, every time Manny Bates was double teamed in the post, the kick out pass followed by the extra pass led to an open shot from 3. Taylor is officially out of his 0-for-10 3-point slump with four 3-pointers in the first half. Chuck Harris made three first-half 3s. Lukosius and Eric Hunter Jr. added two, Myles Tate made one.

Taylor, Harris and Lukosius finished with four 3s each.

Butler coach Thad Matta said the Dawgs' inability to make open shots cost them against Penn State. If the Bulldogs continue to shoot at 54% from 3, they should compete with most teams in the country. I wouldn't expect them to shoot 54% every night, but knowing they're capable of reaching that mark should create confidence in their shooters.

Active hands create easy points

Deflections are not tracked on a standard NCAA box score, but if they were, Butler would dominate that statistic. The Bulldogs' 12 steals against The Citadel only tell part of the story behind their smothering defense. Yes, Bates anchors the paint with his shot-blocking presence, but Butler's perimeter players make every pass from its opposition difficult. They deny entry feeds to the post, swat lobs out of the air and jump in front of lazy passes, turning deflections into easy points the other way. Taylor turned two steals into breakaway dunks on consecutive possessions in the first half.

Hunter Jr. had a career-high five steals. Butler had a 30-to-11 advantage on points off turnovers.

Pierce Thomas the most exciting player in basketball?

Preseason injuries to Myles Wilmoth, Ali Ali, Jalen Thomas and John-Michael Mulloy shrunk Butler's rotation to eight players, with freshman Connor Turnbull seeing spot minutes at times. When the healthy players come back, it's unclear how the Bulldogs' rotation will round out, but one thing is for sure, redshirt freshman Pierce Thomas makes Butler a lot more exciting to watch when he receives regular playing time.

Thomas has elite athletic ability, allowing him to contest everything on the perimeter. In transition, the Brownsburg grad is capable of taking off from outside the paint and throwing down a slam. In the halfcourt, when he gets a head of steam, he's going to use his excellent vertical leap to elevate over a defender a finish through contact. Thomas showcased that ability late in the first half.

Thomas started on the right wing and made a backdoor cut into the paint as Harris drove and drew the defense toward him. Harris passed to Thomas, defender Jackson Price was late rotating over and Thomas leaped, reversed in the air and slammed it home on top of Jackson. Thomas finished with nine points, two assists and two steals, but no points were more exciting than the reverse dunk.

Thomas said he already made up his mind to reverse the dunk when Price started rotating over.

"I got the pass and went up to jump, saw the guy was there but I had already made my mind up how I was going to jump," Thomas said. "So I just went up and finished strong.

"I knew I was gonna get high enough where I could reverse it. So it wasn't really gonna matter what was going on. I just went up and did it."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Butler basketball vs. The Citadel: Bulldogs hit 17 3-pointers in rout