Indy Standard

@ButlerMBB Hosts The Citadel in Final Tip Prior to Battle 4 Atlantis

Coming off the second-most efficient shooting night in program history Thursday, the Bulldogs have a quick turnaround in hosting The Citadel Saturday night at Hinkle. Following Saturday's game, the Bulldogs will be away from Hinkle for nearly two weeks with the Battle 4 Atlantis taking up a majority of that time. 

Butler (2-1) vs. The Citadel (2-1)
Saturday, Nov. 19;  7PM
Hinkle Fieldhouse; Indianapolis, Ind.

PDF Notes Available at https://bit.ly/3NGADRf

TV:  FS2 & FOXSports App -  Matt Schumacker & Rapheal Davis
Radio:  1430AM - @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)
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SERIES: Butler Leads, 1-0
Streak: Butler, W1
At Hinkle: Butler Leads, 1-0
First Meeting: Butler, 144-71; 11/14/15

• Butler and The Citadel have met once before (Nov. 14, 2015) when Butler set program records in points and margin of victory in a 144-71 win; seven Bulldogs reached double figures. 

• Both Thad Matta (Butler) and Ed Conroy (The Citadel) return to their alma maters this season as head coaches in their second tenure at the school.

• Butler is 66-2 over its last 68 non-conference home games.

• Butler shot 70.4 percent in Thursday's 95-67 win over Saint Francis (Pa.); it was the second-best field goal percentage in program history, trailing only the 71.9 clip from the Nov. 15, 2014 win over Maine.

• Butler entered the St. Francis game ranked 177th nationally in field goal percentage; after the 70.4-percent shooting performance, the Bulldogs moved to 21st in the NCAA.

• Chuck Harris led the Bulldogs with 22 points and a career-high seven assists against St. Francis; it was the 11th 20-point game of his career.

• Harris, Jayden Taylor and Simas Lukosius have scored in double figures in all three games this season. 

• Lukosius had a career-best six assists Thursday vs. St. Francis.

• Eric Hunter Jr.'s 18 points vs. St. Francis were his high in a Butler uniform. 

• Pierce Thomas has recorded at least five rebounds in each of his first three college games.  

• Manny Bates opened his Butler career with back-to-back double-doubles; his 25 points in the season-opener against New Orleans were a career-high.

• Bates is the first Bulldog to score at least 20 points in his Butler debut since Rotnei Clarke (21 vs. Elon in 2012). 

• Through three games, Bates is ranked 12th nationally in field goal percentage (77.4) and 15th in blocks per game (3.0).  

• Harris is a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line this season; Taylor is an impressive 16-for-17 (.941). 

• In Butler's two home wins, the Bulldogs have posted dominant advantages in points in the paint (54-24 vs. New Orleans and 56-36 vs. Saint Francis). 

• Butler is 13th nationally in turnover margin at +8.0 through its first three games. 

• The Bulldogs committed only five turnovers in Monday's Gavitt Games loss at Penn State.

• Butler has forced 19.3 turnovers per game so far during the young season, which is 35th nationally. The Bulldogs forced New Orleans into 30 turnovers in the season opener. 

• Butler's 36-point victory over New Orleans Nov. 7 was the largest by the Bulldogs since defeating Western Illinois, 107-46, at Hinkle Fieldhouse Dec. 21, 2017.

• The Bulldogs were without Myles Wilmoth, Jalen Thomas, John-Michael Mulloy, and Ali Ali against Saint Francis (Pa.) due to various injuries. 

• Matta returns to his alma mater as the head coach at Butler; he also led the Bulldogs as head coach during the 2000-01 season. 

• Matta is a combined 70-26 in the first season at each of his previous head coaching stops (Butler in 2000-01, Xavier in 2001-02 and Ohio State in 2004-05), winning at least 20 games in each of those seasons.

• Butler went on a foreign tour to Italy and Greece August 2-12, playing four games abroad.

• BIG EAST coaches have voted Butler eighth in the conference's preseason poll, while Butler junior Chuck Harris was named Preseason All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention for the second consecutive season.

• Harris led Butler in scoring as both a freshman (2020-21) and a sophomore (2021-22). He looks to become the first Bulldog to lead the team in scoring in three consecutive seasons since Kellen Dunham (2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16).

• Butler adds four transfers for the 2022-23 season; three were members of 2022 NCAA Tournament teams (Eric Hunter Jr at Purdue, Ali Ali at Akron and Jalen Thomas at Georgia State). 

Original source can be found here.