Why Butler basketball lost to Creighton in Big East action

Akeem Glaspie, Indianapolis Star
·2 min read

The Butler Bulldogs remained winless in Big East action as they had a rough shooting night from long range against the Creighton Bluejays, who broke a six-game losing skid with a 78-56 victory.

Chuck Harris scored 14 points for the Bulldogs (8-5, 0-2), who were outrebounded 37-19. Jalen Thomas and Ali Ali, transfers who recently returned from injury, combined for 15 off the bench.

Butler made just two 3-pointers, while Creighton shot better than 56% overall and 50% from long range.

Ryan Kalkbrenner, in his return after missing three games, had 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting. Baylor Scheierman had 14 and Arthur Kaluma 12 for Creighton (7-6, 1-1).

Creighton hit 60% of its 3-pointers in the first half and recovered from an early nine-point deficit. Scheierman had 12 points as the Bluejays led 40-34 at halftime.

The Bluejays' 7-0 run extended their lead to 51-40 and prompted a Butler timeout.

“We lost our intensity, we lost our activity defensively, it was not there," Butler coach Thad Matta said. "Guys weren’t rotating the way they needed to rotate. We weren’t as intense defensively as we needed to be.”

The Bulldogs started strong, sprinting to a 16-7 lead in the opening 7:44 behind Harris and Manny Bates.

Creighton 78, Butler 56

BUTLER (8-5): Bates 3-6 0-0 6, Harris 6-12 1-1 14, Hunter 1-4 0-0 2, Taylor 3-9 3-4 9, Lukosius 3-10 2-2 8, Ali 3-8 0-0 7, P.Thomas 1-3 0-0 2, J.Thomas 4-5 0-0 8, Hughes 0-0 0-0 0, Turnbull 0-0 0-0 0, Wilmoth 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-57 6-7 56.

CREIGHTON (7-6): Kaluma 4-10 2-4 12, Kalkbrenner 8-9 2-3 19, Alexander 2-7 2-4 8, Nembhard 4-8 2-2 11, Scheierman 6-9 0-0 14, Farabello 0-2 0-0 0, King 3-3 3-4 9, Miller 0-1 2-2 2, Shtolzberg 0-0 0-0 0, Osmani 0-0 0-0 0, Yates 1-1 1-1 3, Young 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-50 14-20 78.

Halftime—Creighton 40-34. 3-Point Goals_Butler 2-12 (Ali 1-3, Harris 1-3, Taylor 0-1, P.Thomas 0-1, Hunter 0-2, Lukosius 0-2), Creighton 8-16 (Alexander 2-3, Kaluma 2-3, Scheierman 2-5, Kalkbrenner 1-1, Nembhard 1-3, Farabello 0-1). Rebounds_Butler 18 (Taylor, Lukosius 5), Creighton 37 (Scheierman 8). Assists_Butler 8 (Harris 3), Creighton 19 (Nembhard 5). Total Fouls_Butler 17, Creighton 10.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Butler basketball vs. Creighton: Bulldogs blown out by Creighton