What I'm watching as Butler hosts Creighton: Hey, look! It's not a ranked opponent.
INDIANAPOLIS – As poorly as the Butler Bulldogs play in Omaha, Creighton is correspondingly as bad at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Bluejays have lost four in a row at Butler for their longest active road losing streak against any Big East opponent.
Creighton (12-5, 4-2) will try to continue building an NCAA tournament resume in Wednesday’s game. Butler (9-10, 2-6) will try to end a four-game losing streak.
Tipoff is 6:30 p.m., an hour early than originally scheduled.
State of the program: Joining Big East was a gamble, and Butler is running out of chips
Creighton is 51st in NET rankings or more than 100 spots higher than Butler (156th). Creighton has beaten No. 12 Villanova 79-59 and BYU 83-71.
In one of the year’s most improbable upsets, Butler erased a 13-point deficit and beat No. 6 Creighton 70-66 at Hinkle on Jan. 16, 2021. Butler once had a win probability of 2%. Of the Bulldogs’ final 25 points, Aaron Thompson scored or assisted on 21.
What I’m watching:
Is Butler really improving?
In the aftermath of a 40-point blowout at Villanova that was the Bulldogs’ worst defeat in 28 years, they showed signs of recovery in losses to Connecticut and Providence.
Butler led in the second half of both defeats and was within five points in the closing four minutes of both. The Bulldogs are 0-8 against the Top 25. In the previous six defeats, they were not competitive.
“It’s easy to go the other way when we’re all not playing well,” senior forward Bryce Nze said. “So we stick together, trust in the process and just believe in each other. We’re good. We’ll get through this.”
Insider: It's another Butler loss to a Top 25 team, but at least this effort was better
If improvement is manifested in victory, this stretch is the best chance to show it. Four of Butler’s next six games are at home.
“You play in the Big East, you’re going to have an opportunity every night, regardless of where the game is played,” coach LaVall Jordan said.
Freshman Jayden Taylor suggested the Bulldogs must value process over outcomes.
“I think the the results will take care of itself,” he said.
The new lineup
Effect of new lineups can be overstated . . . but it sure seemed to work Sunday at Providence. Chuck Harris scored 21 points for Butler, and Bo Hodges had 17 points and eight rebounds.
Harris had not started since Nov. 23. Hodges, coming off a tibial plateau fracture, missed the first 14 games and was on a minutes restriction until Sunday.
Sandwiched around a scoreless outing at UConn, Harris has scored 15, 16 and 21 in three other games. It was reminiscent of 2021, when he averaged 16.7 ppg in 11 February/March games, featuring 28 points in a loss at Creighton.
“Honestly, I feel like I was just in my head a lot,” Harris said. “I’ve had a lot of things personally going on. Talking to coaches and teammates, they helped me clear my mind and just make basketball basketball. Just keep it that.
"That definitely helped me and kind of allowed me to get back to how y’all seen me before."
Who can make a 3-pointer?
Creighton (.319) and Butler (.312) are the Big East’s two worst 3-point shooting teams. It has been an Achilles heel for the Bulldogs, who are shooting .254 from the arc over 10 games.
Creighton has had its moments.
Alex O’Connell, a transfer from Duke, scored 22 and 28 points in recent wins over Xavier and St. John’s on 10-of-15 arc accuracy. In Big East games, he leads the conference in field goal percentage (.550), 3-point percentage (.528) and 3s made per game (3.2).
Ryan Hawkins leads Creighton in 3s made (39) and has three or more in 10 games. Hawkins, a 6-7 transfer from Northwest Missouri State, was MVP of the 2021 Division II Elite Eight with 31 points and 18 rebounds in the championship game. He is in the top two of active Division I players in points (2,323) and rebounds (1,076).
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Big East basketball: Butler Bulldogs vs. Creighton Bluejays preview
