(1) Butler 68, (4) Milwaukee 59

The Big Picture: It wasn’t exactly the college hoops version of The Met doing Carmen, but there was a degree of artistry to Butler’s win on Saturday.  Said artistry didn’t come on the offensive end of things, as the Bulldogs were pretty much mediocre, but it did  happen on the business end of the court in the Norris – aka, the defensive end – where Brad Stevens’ squad held Milwaukee to only 38 % shooting for the game; a far cry from the 55 % the Panthers shot on Friday night.

The Good: Butler’s sophomore guard Ronald Nored isn’t really known as a scorer, he averages about 6 points per game on the season, but on Saturday night he found his inner Allen Iverson, attacking the goal off the dribble and getting to the charity stripe so often, King James would’ve been jealous.  More importantly, Nored sank 7-of-9 freebies on his way to dropping 13 points on the Panthers.

Beyond individual superlatives, Saturday’s scrap showed that Butler can overcome adversity to keep its winning streak going.  The Panthers, a well-coached and balanced bunch, were actually leading 29-28 at the half, as beefy Robert Eayrs was having his way with Butler’s Matt Howard. Butler responded, though, with a 14-6 spurt in the second half and never  looked back,

The Bad: Live by the three, die by the three.  Only Wright State gets more of its points from beyond the arc in the Horizon then Milwaukee does.  It stood to reason that the Panthers would need to rain triples on Saturday to beat Butler.  Instead, the Panthers shot about as well from three as Tom “The Hammer” DeLay did on Dancing With The Stars.  Milwaukee, which probably needed to make at least 50 % of its triples to have a chance, was a gruesome 6-of-24 from long distance.  Ja’Rob McCallum, Friday’s hero in the quarterfinals, was an abysmal 2-of-7 beyond the arc.

The Ugly: The entire 40 minutes was an unsightly example of Norris League – er, Horizon League – hoops.  Like Friday’s games, this was another clash that the observer may have wished was halted once the first team reached 50.  Butler reached that plateau just a bit after the seven-minute mark in the second half, yet the game continued.  Go figure.

What’s Next

Those who are in the know wanted to see a Wright State vs. Butler Horizon League final, and now, they’re going to get it.  While Butler has dispatched the Raiders with relative ease so far this season, the smart money says the Horizon tournament final is not going to be another easy romp for Butler.  Ronald Nored and Company might very will win on Tuesday night, but Wright State isn’t going to go 6-of-24 beyond the arc.  The Raiders will make threes.  We’ll see how Butler responds at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Tim Coyne
DFN Sports Guest Writer