Six-foot-eleven senior Andrew Smith is looking to continue his basketball career in the U.S. or abroad.

To prepare, he’s entered St. Vincent Sports Performance’s rigorous pre-NBA draft training program, which he will continue up until the draft in late June.

“Going from college to the NBA is very different,” Smith said. “There’s no real way to simulate that except for playing in NBA games.”

Smith scored 1,147 points during his four years at Butler to go along with multiple nominations and awards.

In his senior season alone, he was a Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award finalist, posted four double-doubles and led Butler in both defensive and offensive rebounds with a combined 213 on the season.

Still, he says he has a lot of work to do, particularly in the coming months.

“He’s juggling school right now and needs to finish his internship,” said Greg Moore, sports performance specialist and strength and conditioning coach at SVSP. “But here, he’ll get individual attention outside of being part of the team.”
Moore said total body strength will definitely be a focus for Smith.

“His primary goal,” Moore said, “will be improving mobility and stability and then building a stronger foundation and range of motion.”

He said it’s still very early and  most athletes start a week or two from now. That’s good news for Smith, who has a life-changing opportunity on his hands.

But even if Smith doesn’t make the cut for the draft, there are NBA team camps in Las Vegas and Orlando in July and Euroleague events after that.

Nothing is for certain, and he’s hoping SVSP’s program can improve his skills to aid his shot at going pro.

SVSP Executive Director Ralph Reiff said St. Vincent’s top-notch, all-encompassing system has a well-deserved international reputation for being one of the best in the business.

“Our scope of services we provide to athletes is very complete from all aspects,” Reiff said. “We’re very detailed about the work we do.

“We did a lot of assessments on Andrew: how he moves, literally from his big toe to his shoulders to fingertips. We have to prepare Andrew to do things he’s never done before, and we’ve designed a very comprehensive program that addresses every aspect from physical and mental standpoint to do that.”

The staff working with Smith includes about half a dozen people. Chris Thomas of Champions Academy recently took over for nationally-renowned Ed Schilling, who departed to join the UCLA team with Steve Alford.
Smith is also getting married in a month.

He is continuing to evaluate all of his options.

“Going overseas, there are a ton of good options,” Smith said. “(My agent) knows Europe pretty well. Navigating the NBA is relatively simple, and Europe gets more complicated. But there are some very good teams there and being able to travel wouldn’t be bad either.”

Butler senior pitcher Chase Byerly is in the running for the Lowes’ Senior CLASS Award.

The award is an acronym for “Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School.” Candidates must be NCAA Division I seniors and qualify in the four C’s: community, classroom, character and competition.

Byerly is one of 30 finalists. He is among three finalists from the Atlantic 10 Conference, including Charlotte infielder Shane Basen and Rhode Island utility man Mike Le Bel.

The Senior CLASS Award was founded in 2001 in a partnership between Premiere Sports Management and Lowes’. The award is given to athletes in 10 different sports.

Byerly’s nomination follows three straight nominations for Butler basketball players.

Senior Andrew Smith is a nominee for this year’s basketball award, which will be announced during the Final Four in Atlanta. Ronald Nored was nominated last year for the Bulldogs, and Matt Howard the year before.

No Bulldog has ever won the award, but Byerly believes he has a good shot of doing so this year.

“I’m a really competitive guy, so I think I have a pretty good shot at it,” Byerly said. “I’ve done pretty well this season so far.”

Building off last season when he set the school’s single-season saves record with 10, Byerly is already off to a hot start. His ERA is 2.55 and he has with 16 strikeouts.

Byerly completed a rare feat, picking up three saves in a single series last weekend at Virginia Commonwealth University, pushing his season total to four.

Off the field, Byerly impresses in other ways. He has a 3.98 GPA as a business and finance double major.

Smith, also a business major, said he knows Byerly well and that he is a hard worker.

“I know he works extremely hard,” Smith said. “He’s a very talented individual on and off the field.”

On top of doing well in class, Byerly interned at Eli Lilly last summer and Smith said he always shows dedication.

“He’s one of the hardest-working people I know,” Smith said. “He’s always top of the class, he’s a great presenter, he’s a great speaker.

Byerly said it is tough to be involved on campus while being on the baseball team, but he does make an effort.

“It’s tough to hold a leadership position with any organization on campus, but I am involved,” Byerly said.

Byerly is a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He is also part of the Dawg Pound and various honor societies on campus.

Butler baseball coach Steve Farley said Byerly has made large strides evolving from a walk-on to a leader.

“He started as a walk-on and took on that role,” Farley said. “Now he’s possibly one of the best relief pitchers in the nation.”

Farley had Byerly convert to a side-arm release early on in his career, which has made him tough to hit.

Farley said he thinks Byerly is deserving of the nomination.

“Chase is one of the best guys I’ve ever coached,” Farley said. “He’s like another coach in the dugout. Everything is well deserved.”

Marquette junior guard Vander Blue scored a career-high 29 points as the No. 3 seed Golden Eagles squeaked out a 74-72 win over No. 6 seed Butler in the third round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Butler had a chance to tie or win the game with 2.9 seconds remaining, but senior center Andrew Smith could do nothing with an inbound pass and threw up a shot that barely hit the backboard as time expired.

Blue scored 19 of his 29 points in the second half to pace Marquette. Blue scored a previous career-high 21 points against Butler in the Maui Invitational contest between the squads.

“Not many guys have gotten 50 against Butler in two games,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “You know, he made big shots. Just a hard guy to stop.”

It was a disappointing end to Butler’s return to the NCAA tournament after playing in the College Basketball Invitational last season.

“It’s hard to (put a positive spin on the season) because the last game is a loss,” senior guard Rotnei Clarke said through tears. “Just make the most of it and try to stay positive.”

Clarke had a strong first 20 minutes against Marquette, tallying 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting. The Golden Eagles’ defense held the one-season Butler player to just six points in the second half, including a scoreless stretch through the last 15 minutes.

“We were trying to pressure him too much,” said senior guard Junior Cadougan. “In the second half, me and (sophomore guard Derrick) Wilson did a great job of contesting his shots and trying to wear him out.”

The first half saw back and forth action early on, before Butler was able to open a slightly larger advantage by the end of the half.

The Bulldogs were paced by seven 3-point baskets spread out amongst five players. Butler held Marquette to 25.9 percent shooting from the field and took a 35-27 lead into the locker room.

Marquette coach Buzz Williams said his team needed to go “all in” on shutting down Clarke in the second half.

“(You) see if those other guys can beat you,” Williams said. “If we could turn it into a fight and make it ugly, it probably trends toward us.”

Cadougan said he was the recipient of a verbal lashing from Williams at halftime. However, he said it helped the team down the stretch.

“Coach chewed me out in the locker room in front of the team because he knows I’ve been here,” Cadougan said. “I’ve been through it, and he knows that once he chews me out, I accept and build off that.”

The Golden Eagles slowly mounted a comeback over the course of the second half’s first 10 minutes. With seven and a half minutes remaining, a Blue layup tied the game at 58 and finally erased Butler’s advantage.

From there, the small factions of Butler and Marquette fans—sprinkled with Louisville fans from the previous game—saw the two squads trade baskets back and forth through the remainder of the contest.

Neither team would lead by more than four points the rest of the way.

One critical moment came with 3:31 remaining, when sophomore forward Roosevelt Jones had a layup waved off after another Butler player was ruled to have touched the rim.

Jones was also fouled and made one of two free throws to cut Marquette’s advantage to 64-63.

Down 66-65 with 2:56 remaining, Butler would score the next four points off a basket by sophomore forward Kameron Woods and two free throws by Smith.

Blue followed with perhaps his biggest shot of the game, draining a 3-point basket with 1:29 remaining to tie the game at 69 and send the Marquette section of the crowd into a frenzy.

“I got in the groove early in the second half,” Blue said. “I rose up and shot with no conscience because I knew we needed that.”

Marquette would score the next three points off free throws and held a 72-69 advantage with 22 seconds left.

Jones was fouled on the ensuing possession and hit one of two free throws to bring the score to 72-70.

Still down two on the next possession, Clarke took a 3-point shot and missed the rim.

It appeared the Golden Eagles had sealed the deal when junior forward Davante Gardner was fouled by Clarke and hit a pair of free throws, pushing Marquette to a 74-70 lead.

But senior center Emerson Kampen threw a home-run pass directly to Smith, who was rewarded with two points on a goaltending call. Marquette then threw away an inbound pass to give Butler one final chance, down 74-72 with 2.9 seconds left.

“I was pretty upset at myself,” Blue said of the failed inbound pass. “I think our team did a great job of executing at the end and making sure we got that stop.”

Stevens said the defensive formation Williams had the Golden Eagles in on the final possession may have confused the Bulldogs.

“A lot of times, they went zone-two man, and we had a couple of looks,” Stevens said. “The way that they aligned, they switched all their matchups so they put Gardner on Roosevelt and matched everybody else accordingly, and I think our guys mistook that for zone.”

Clarke finished with a team-high 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting. Smith was the only other Bulldog in double figures with 17 points, adding eight rebounds.

Senior guard Trent Lockett and junior forward Jamil Wilson both tallied 13 to support Blue’s 29.

It was the final game in a Butler uniform for Smith, Clarke, Kampen and senior guard Chase Stigall. All four saw action in the contest.

“Feeling pretty sick right now,” Woods said on Twitter after the game. “Our seniors deserved so much more from (the underclassmen).”

Marquette moves on to face the winner of today’s game between Miami and Illinois.

Williams—who said his wife is currently in a Lexington hospital—praised Stevens and the Bulldogs at the outset of the press conference. He added extra compliments for Clarke, whom he said is “like Pistol Pete” with the ball.

“When the ball is in his hands and he has crossed half court, he legitimately has a chance to make it no matter where he picks up the ball,” Williams said.

Butler finished the season with an overall record of 27-9, including an 11-5 mark in its only season in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The team will move, with most of Butler’s athletic teams, to the new Big East before the next academic year.

Quick Stats

Butler

G Rotnei Clarke: 24 points, 3 assists, 8-of-17 shooting (5-of-12 3-point shooting)

C Andrew Smith: 17 points, 8 rebounds (game-high), 2 steals

F Roosevelt Jones: 8 points, 3 assists, 5 turnovers

F Erik Fromm: 6 points, 2 blocks

FG shooting: 42.9 percent (24-of-56)

3-pt shooting: 45.8 percent (11-of-24)

FT shooting: 68.4 percent (13-of-19)

Rebounds: 33

Turnovers: 15

Steals: 7

Blocks: 8

Marquette

G Vander Blue: 29 points (career-high), 4 steals, 9-of-15 shooting (8-of-8 free throws)

G Trent Lockett: 13 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks

F Jamil Wilson: 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals

G Junior Cadougan: 9 points, 2 assists

FG shooting: 42.6 percent (23-of-54)

3-pt shooting: 41.7 percent (5-of-12)

FT shooting: 85.2 percent (23-of-27)

Rebounds: 35

Turnovers: 15

Steals: 9

Blocks: 4

No matter how well a college men’s basketball team may play during its regular season, should it make the NCAA Division I Tournament, it will ultimately fall into one of two categories.

The ‘teams that showed up’ category, or the ‘teams that folded like a card table’ category.

In its last few tournament appearances, Butler has often placed itself in the former group. Whether it is by statistical dominance, sheer luck or a mix of both, Butler coach Brad Stevens knows how to field a tough team to oust from the tournament.

And Stevens’ players know how to show up during the Big Dance.

Of course, there’s always some luck involved when any team experiences a deep tournament run.

But in Butler’s case, the statistics offer an intriguing look into why Butler’s recent teams have seen NCAA tournament success.

Let’s take a look back to the 2009-10 season, during which Butler put itself on the map with a run to the National Championship Game.

The Bulldogs averaged a little more than 70 points per game on nearly 46 percent shooting during the regular season. They turned the ball over less than and outrebounded their opponents through the campaign.

When that team got to the tournament—as some pundits may have predicted—it just wasn’t as statistically strong.

Butler was playing against consistently tougher competition than it saw in the Horizon League. The Bulldogs’ tournament competitors shot better against Butler than Butler’s regular-season opponents did.

On the other side of the ball, Butler scored nearly 10 points less per game during the tournament than they did in the regular season. Every key offensive statistic went the wrong way, numerically, for Butler during the tournament.

And yet, the Bulldogs won five tournament games and lost their sixth, the National Championship contest against Duke, by two points.

Flash forward to the 2010-11 season. The team wasn’t exactly the same, but the script was, statistically.

Butler’s shooting from the field dropped from 44.6 percent shots made in the regular season to 37.3 percent made in the tournament. Points per game fell by nearly nine.

The Bulldogs’ opponents rebounded better in the tournament than Butler’s regular-season foes. If you take out the offensively putrid National Championship game against Connecticut, the same could have been said for shots made against Butler.

But, again, Butler racked up five tournament victories before falling shy of a sixth.

This doesn’t make any sense, especially if you’re a statistical guru. Granted, Stevens is one himself and he isn’t complaining.

But through a single game in this season’s tournament, the script of Butler being statistically worse in the tournament versus the regular season is playing out once again.

And Butler is 1-0, preparing for a game against Marquette tonight.

There are a few reasons for Butler’s success in spite of everything the stats suggest.

The first actually lies in the statistics and is the only one I haven’t mentioned yet: opponents’ points per game.

While Butler’s tournament opponents seem to have little trouble shooting better than Butler’s regular season opponents, it has not translated to more points.

The 2009-10 season saw Butler allow 59.9 points per game during the regular season. The Bulldogs’ tourney opponents could barely muster 56, on average.

During the next campaign, Butler allowed 71.8 points per game in the regular season. That figure dropped to 61.3 during the tournament.

During the 2012-13 regular season, Butler allowed 63.8 points per contest. Bucknell managed just 56.

Despite allowing opponents to sink a higher percentage of shots during the tournament than they do in the regular season, the Bulldogs prohibit their tournament foes from scoring more total points.

Much of this likely has to do with Butler’s game tempo, which is typically relaxed and slow. It is harder for opponents to get off more shots when they just don’t have the ball very much.

Butler’s defense also forces opponents to make many passes and wind the shot clock down below 10 seconds as often as possible.

The cast has certainly changed for Butler since the 2009-10 season, but the system has not.

“We’re similar (to past Butler teams) in we focus on the defensive end,” senior center Andrew Smith said during the Bucknell postgame press conference. “We feel like, even if you’re having a bad night, you’re going to be able to play the game if you focus on defense. That’s the main similarity.”

While strong defense is clearly a reason why Butler can limit its tournament opponents’ point production, it is not as straightforward as that.

There are many college teams that play ‘strong defense’. But they don’t all play the same style of defense.

Stevens is known for switching up defensive views throughout contests so opponents are unable to focus on and try to overcome a single defensive outlook.

After the Bucknell victory, he talked about why he made the decision to put junior forward Khyle Marshall on Bucknell senior center Mike Muscala.

“They run a lot of action where we’re going to hedge a ball screen and Andrew is going to return to Khyle’s guy, and Khyle is going to return to Andrew’s guy,” Stevens said. “So it was almost like we pre-switched to guard the switch later on.”

Pre-switched to guard the switch? Not a phrase you hear very often in college basketball press conferences.

And that leads us to the final reason why Butler is continually able to defy the odds: Stevens as Butler’s coach.

Like I said above, the cast has certainly changed. It has to—players graduate, move on the NBA or other careers.

Stevens has resisted any possible temptations associated with jumping to a big conference school to build a system that senior guard Rotnei Clarke described as “tough.”

“I can’t explain it,” Clarke said. “It’s pretty complex. It’s something I’ve never seen before, the things that we do defensively, and it takes a little bit to understand.”

Stevens has installed a defensive system that works at the tournament level. And the most important part: he gets his players to invest in it wholeheartedly.

“Once (people) see us in person or on TV, they see how physical we are on defense,” sophomore forward Roosevelt Jones said. “Coach Stevens wants us to focus on defense, and so that’s what we do.”

Jones said he and his teammates knew they could come back when Bucknell jumped out to a 37-31 lead early in the second half.

“Coach Stevens said when we got back in the huddle that they were going to make a run, and we had to make our own run,” Jones said. “We knew we could come back if we stayed the course and played defense.”

Staying the course seems to be the true theme here. Statistics would not suggest that ‘the course’ leads to Butler victories in the tournament.

Luckily for the Butler community, Stevens and his players follow their own course.

Lexington—Butler coach Brad Stevens is the worst kept secret in college basketball.

Everyone has known that Stevens is a good coach. But this year, people are getting a chance to understand and break down just how good he is.

After all, you don’t boast a 12-4 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament record and have the most victories in Division I men’s basketball in your first six years as coach of a single team, if you are an average coach.

But it’s not just the record that is impressive about Stevens. It’s his demeanor, his commitment to Butler and his knowledge of statistics and of the game.

Now, I’m not saying that Butler takes it all for granted. School officials proved that when they extended his contract through 2021-2022 and, in all honesty, when they made the decision to join the Big East.

And I’m not saying that local media—myself included—take him for granted. We all know how good he is.

What I am saying is that I have been amazed at the celebrity status he has achieved in Lexington this week, not only among media members, but among other coaches and teams as well.

Bucknell coach Dave Paulsen said watching tapes on Butler was like watching a coaching clinic. And Marquette coach Buzz Williams said he holds Stevens in the highest regard.

“Coach Stevens is a Hall of Fame coach,” Williams said. “He’s just not old enough for you to call him that yet.”

Even former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy got in on the Stevens love.

Dungy said in a tweet: “Brad Stevens is a great coach and a great person. I would love to have my son play for him.”

So everyone is in agreement that Stevens is better than good, right?

During a press conference, Stevens said Dungy was someone he would like to think he modeled his coaching style on, but he really couldn’t say that.

“I’ve always admired and thought that the ultimate coach was Tony Dungy,” Stevens said. “But he’s way better than I am and way more calm and poised than I am.”

This coming from the guy who crossed his arms and barely looked up at the scoreboard as sophomore forward Roosevelt Jones made a last-second, game-winning basket to beat then-No. 8 Gonzaga on ESPN College GameDay in January.

“I’m not near the coach that Coach Stevens is,” Williams said. “Our kids are not going to make a shot and my reaction is going to be the same way his.

“But I have great respect and admiration that he can operate like that.”

Despite the high regard from his peers, Stevens sees it differently.

“I think that that’s been sensationalized a bit,” Stevens said. “I don’t think I’m as cool and collected as everyone likes to talk about.

“Sometimes my competitive side spirit gets the best of me.”

Seniors Andrew Smith and Rotnei Clarke have seen that side of him, which not many others have.

“He’s usually calm and he really holds his composure well,” Clarke said. “When he’s upset, you’ll know. And we’ve known”

In spite of all of this, the biggest surprise the media has had this week was being introduced to Stevens’ knowledge of the game.

It truly started after the win against Bucknell, when he was discussing the triangle-and-two defense the Bison employed. He talked about how little the Bison had played in that formation, even breaking it down on a game-by-game basis.

“They played it for six possessions against LaSalle in December,” Stevens said. “And they played it one other time in one other game that I can remember.”

People at the press conference laughed, but I think they were really in shock. There was one that was ready to test his knowledge of Marquette and Davidson.

Of course Stevens, being who he is, credited his staff, including the overnight stat-phenomenon Drew Canon.

But don’t let the humbleness fool you. Stevens is a stat guy. Andrew Smith gave an example of his preparation for games on Selection Sunday.  He said the Bulldogs learned they were paired with Bucknell and did about 15 minutes of media before going to the locker room to meet with Stevens.

“Coach came out and said, well, I’ve already watched 20 clips of Bucknell’s defense,” Smtih said. “We all just started laughing. I don’t even know where he gets that information so quickly.”

The fact remains that he does.

“He’s a pretty special coach,” Smith said, “and in my opinion the best coach in America. And I think he has proved it year in an year out.”

He manages to take less-than-top-rated players, put them together and create a national championship game caliber team. He manages to get the best from his players and gets them to buy into his program. He manages to at least fool all of us into thinking he does it all as the calmest coach in college basketball.

“I think the best piece of advice I got was right when I got the head coaching job at Butler,” Stevens said.  “(One of my friends) said, ‘you know what? What I learned was you have to be yourself.’

“So I can tell you just be yourself and if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. At least that way you have no regrets with it.”

Butler is looking to win. Marquette is looking for revenge.

Tomorrow’s third round match-up boasts a rematch of the two from the Maui Invitational back in November of this season.

Butler beat Marquette on a buzzer-beating, desperation heave from senior guard Rotnei Clarke.  And Marquette hasn’t forgot about it.

Marquette guard Vander Blue said that is the lasting memory of the Maui invitational for him and most of the team.

“That shot was amazing,” Marquette guard Junior Cadougan said. “It’s motivation, period.”

It hasn’t helped that ESPN created a commercial using the shot.

“I would say it’s fresh in their minds,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. “They’ve seen the commercial countless times on ESPN.”

But Butler has moved on.

“You know, there’s a lot of attention put on it during the tournament,” senior guard Rotnei Clarke said. “But since then, we’ve moved past it.

“It’s definitely not going to have any impact on the game tomorrow.”

The one thing the two teams can agree on is both teams have improved since November.

“They’ve obviously really improved in a lot of areas.” Clarke said. “They’ve had some guys like Wilson who has really stepped up their game since Maui and they’re really clicking on all cylinders right now.”

Marquette finished its season with a 23-8 record and its first-ever Big East Conference regular season championship.

Nearly half of the Golden Eagles’ games came against teams that were selected for the NCAA Tournament or NIT.  They were 6-7 against NCAA Tournament teams.

Marquette defeated Davidson 59-58 last night on a last-second shot in the second round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.

The Golden Eagles had three players in double-figures, led by the last shot hero, Vander Blue with 16 points.

It was the same play, by the same guy that led Marquette to a last-second victory over St. John’s in its regular season finale.

Clarke described Marquette as “big, physical, fast and athletic.”

“They do a great job rebounding and get of lot of points in the paint too,” Clarke said.

Some of those words Marquette players would use to describe Butler as well.

Both teams hold a positive rebounding margin, with Butler on average out-rebounding opponents by 7.6 per game and Marquette 4.3.

And physicality has become a synonym for senior center Andrew Smith and his entourage down low.

“I remember that Smith was a real physical player,” center Chris Otule said. “All their bigs are really physical and we have to focus on trying to defend without fouling.”

Smith has played against some of the best centers in the country this season including Indiana’s Cody Zeller, Gonzaga’s Kelly Olynyk and Bucknell’s Mike Muscala.

Last night he, along with the other Butler big men held Muscala, who averaged 19 points and 11 rebounds this season, to only nine points, a career-tying low and 10 rebounds.

Not only has Marquette improved, but so have the Bulldogs as they traditionally have during the post season.

“Brad Stevens is not 12-4 in the NCAA Tournament because he coaches the same team in March that he coaches in November,” Williams said.

The game could be the start of a long, or short with as many conference changes happening, rivalry for these two teams. Both will be in the Big East next season.

But as always, Butler coach Brad Stevens is focused not on next year and not on “a shot that should have never gone in,” but on what he can control; the next play, the next game.

“There is a lot that goes into being able to move on to the next play,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “(We) manage the good, manage the bad and understand that as long as you have season left, you can always take advantage of what’s next.”

Game time is set for 7:45 p.m. at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. It will be shown on CBS and can also be watched online on March Madness live.

Butler used its traditional opponent-stifling defense to propel itself to the next round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament with a 68-56 win over Bucknell.

It was the defensive-minded Butler basketball that the nation was introduced to during the Final Four run in 2010.  It was the kind of basketball where you can only score 21 points in the first half and still win.

It was the kind of Butler basketball where you can go from having a double-digit lead to being down by six and still win.

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“They have some mettle, they have some intestinal fortitude that is built up over time, but also a core part of our program,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “But it is truly a Butler team, which I feel really good about.”

The Bulldogs took a 21-14 lead into the locker room at half-time.

They were only shooting 32 percent and had yet to make a 3-point field goal.  But, they had held Bucknell to a mere 25.9 percent shooting from the field and Naismith Player of the Year finalist, senior center Mike Muscala to only two points.

“It may not have been esthetic the entire game, you know missing our first 13 3’s,” Stevens said. “But our defense was really good in the first half. “

The team’s defense let up for about ten minutes at the beginning of the second half, when Bucknell went on a 19-2 run led by senior Joe Willman and Muscala.

Butler went over three minutes without scoring a basket and the Bison extended its lead.

“We knew they were going to make a run,” senior center Andrew Smith said. “We were prepared for something like that and fortunately were able to fight back.”

Stevens called a timeout after Willman scored a jumper to give Bucknell it s largest lead at six points.

Coming out of the timeout freshman guard Kellen Dunham sunk two free-throws to break the dry spell, but it was the seniors who really got Butler going.

Smith hit the first Butler 3-pointer of the game two possessions later, followed by a steal by Marshall to Clark for his first three of the game.

It was the start of a Butler 22-5 run.

“I told them in the locker room there’s a lot of teams in this tournament that wouldn’t be able to withstand a 16-point swing,” Stevens said. “And then have a 16-point swing of their own.”

Butler built its lead to 12, the largest of the game for either team and cruised to the win with 12 made free throws at the end.

Clarke led Butler with 17 points, followed by sophomore Roosevelt Jones and Smith both with 14. Smith finished the game with a double-double by adding a career-high 16 rebounds.

He also set a Butler record for rebounds in a NCAA Tournament game.

Sophomore Alex Barlow set a career-high with 10 points and added five rebounds, four steals and a blocked shot.

“Barlow was dialed into a different level than pretty much any other guy we had on our team the last couple of days,” Steven said. “With his study, getting into the film room, with his ability to read actions.

Bucknell’s Willman finished the day with a career-high 20 points and six rebounds in his last collegiate game.

Butler held Muscala to nine points, tying a career-low.

Butler will play Marquette on Saturday. Butler beat the Golden Eagles back in Novemeber during the Maui Invitational on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Clarke.

The time has not yet been announced.

See photos from the game here.

Today was Butler’s final day of preparation before taking on the Bucknell Bison in the second round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Tomorrow’s game will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams.

Despite Butler being the higher seed at No. 6, many analysts and fans alike are calling for an upset by Bucknell in Butler-fashion.

But Butler is not looking at themselves as favorites.​

“The way we’re looking at it, there’s no favorites going into this tournament,” senior guard Rotnei Clarke said. “Anyone who is in this tournament is deserving and Bucknell has got a lot of history themselves.”

Nor does head coach Brad Stevens consider the higher No. 6 seed an advantage.

“It becomes harder to win if you’re the top seeded teams because of all the talk,” Stevens said. “And I think that’s been the case with our two Final Four runs, we played with no pressure.”

Stevens doesn’t deny the threats of the Bison.

“Bucknell has all of the pieces and all of the experiences and all of the accomplishments that go along with the teams that go deep into the NCAA Tournament out of a non-BCS league,” Stevens said. “A lot like the Butler teams of the past.”

Bucknell has the Patriot League Player of the Year, defensive player of the year and scholar-athlete of the year in center Mike Muscala.

Muscala averages 19 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. The job to guard the monster center will be placed heavily on Butler senior center Andrew Smith.

“I can guarantee you it won’t be easy,” Smith said. “He’s a great player, but it’s going to be more than just me. It’s going to be a team effort.”

The Bison set a Patriot League and school record with 28 wins and were the Patriot League Champions behind seven straight victories to end the season.

“It’s going to come down to the little things, I think,” Clarke said. “Just executing well and rebounding, offensive rebounding, just hustle plays, things that determine the end of a game.”

Bucknell coach Dave Paulsen said these are things that Butler do well and what he has modeled his program after.

“Butler has set the gold standard in my mind for preparation and attention to detail and being the team that doesn’t beat itself,” Paulsen said.  “I hold Brad Stevens and the Butler program in the highest regard you could hold a coach and a program.”

Stevens echoed the sentiments and said that he, nor the people in the basketball circles across the country, have ignored the accomplishments of the Bison.

“There’s a reason (teams) don’t schedule them in the preseason,” Stevens said. “I don’t like preparing for them, but I’ve appreciated watching them.”

In the end Stevens said it will come down to his team and how they can perform against a good team.

“We’re just trying to win so our last locker room meeting doesn’t happen today,” Stevens said. “You know, one more day together.”

Odds and Ends

In typical Butler fashion the team watched film and had a practice at Transylvania University, before coming to Rupp Arena for press conferences and an open practice on the main court.

Rotnei Clarke went with his mom and dad to a gym last night to shoot his nightly routine. He said he shot for 30-45 minutes. Andrew Smith is the one who let it slip and apologized to Clarke if he embarrassed him, but said he “had to.”

It is Clarke’s first NCAA Tournament appearance and is appearing to be soaking it all in. After the press conference he tried to take his nameplate as a souvenir. Tournament officials kept it for later use though.

Brad Steven’s son, Brady, was on the court during the team’s open practice rebounding for the team. As the clock ran down, the team went to the corner to sign autographs for Butler fans in attendance. Brady got some coaching tips from his dad and sunk two shots to end the practice.

This year’s team:

• 26-8 overall record
• 6^th NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament in seven years and the 11^th in 17 years.
• 18-18 overall NCAA tournament record.
• No. 6 seed was the third highest in Butler history. The only higher ones were No. 5 seeds in 2007 and 2010.
• Has never lost to a lower seed in the tournament.
• There are three players on the Butler roster that have played in a national championship game: Andrew Smith, Chase Stigall and Khyle Marshall
• Was 4-0 against RPI Top 20 teams and 6-6 against RPI Top 50 teams.
• Had zero losses outside of the RPI Top 100
• Has had nine different players start this season
• Two Geico Player of the Year finalists in Alex Barlow with his shot against Indiana and Roosevelt Jones’ game winner against Gonzaga
• The top three wins by Butler this season against Indiana, Gonzaga and Marquette were decided by a combined four points
• As a team averages: 69.3 points, 34.8 percent 3-point shooting, 68.9 percent free throw shooting, 36.6 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 13.4 turnovers, 5.7 steals and 2.4 blocks per game
• As a team allows: 63.8 points, 41.8 percent opponent field goal shooting and 33.3 percent 3-point field goal shooting per game.

Brad Stevens:

• Has an 11-4 NCAA tournament record as head coach
• Butler has had six Top 10 wins with Stevens as coach
• Has moved into the top spot on the NCAA Division I list for best career coaching starts by wins in six seasons, with a record of 165-48. He hold the NCAA three, four and five-year record.

Rotnei Clarke

• Butler is 10-1 when Clarke scores 20 or more points per game
• He leads the team averaging 16.7 points per game
• Has scored 518 points this season
• He is first on the team in free-throw shooting, with an average of 88.6 percent
• Is third in Butler history for single-season 3-point field goals with 108
• Has scored in double-figures in all but five games he’s played in this season
• He missed three games after suffering a severe neck sprain at Dayton in January.
• Is a member of the Atlantic 10 First Team All-Conference
• Scored a season-high 27 points in the loss to Illinois during the championship game of the Maui Invitational.

Andrew Smith

• He is the only player in the country to have played in two national championship games
• Is Butler’s second-leading scorer averaging 11.1 points per game
• He and Roosevelt Jones lead the team in rebounding averaging 5.7 rebounds per game
• Smith is a finalist of the Lowes Senior Class Award, was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Academic Team and is an Academic All-American

Roosevelt Jones

• Jones is the only Butler player to start in all 34 games this season.
• He is one of three Butler players averaging in double-figure scoring with 10.1 points per game
• He averages 30.4 minutes per game, second-most on the team.
• He leads the team in assists with 3.5 per game
• Jones is a member of the Atlantic 10 All-Defensive Team

Khyle Marshall

• Butler is 15-1 when Marshall scores in double-figures
• He averages 9.9 points per game
• Shooting 56.4 percent from the field, he is second on the team in field goal percentage
• Marshall averages 4.7 rebounds per game

Kellan Dunham

• Made the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team
• He averages 9.9 points per game
• He shoots 38.2 percent from the field and 87.1 percent from the free throw line

Kameron Woods

• Has scored in double figures four times this season, three coming in the last five games. Butler has won all four of those games
• He leads the team in field goal shooting percentage with 56.9 percent
• Woods is averaging 4.8 rebounds and 4.6 points per game

Alex Barlow

• Has started 21 games this season for the Bulldogs.  The team is 17-4 in those games and 8-3 when he comes in off the bench
• Averages 43.1 percent field goal shooting
• Has 66 assists this season, averaging two per game
• He has the best assist to turnover ratio on the team with 1.7

Erik Fromm

• Averages 3.5 points and 2.7 rebounds per game
• He had a season-high 13 points in the loss at Charlotte

Chase Stigall

• Stigall is a 77.8 percent free-throw shooter
• He averages 10.6 minutes, most of the time coming off the bench. He has started in three games for the Bulldogs this season
• Stigall has a season-high 12 points in the 77-58 win at St. Bonaventure

The Butler men’s basketball team suffered its first home loss of the season Wednesday night, losing 71-67 to Charlotte at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Junior forward Erik Fromm started in place of senior center Andrew Smith who suffered an abdominal injury during last Saturday’s game against George Washington.

The Bulldogs’ (20-5, 7-3) shooters struggled in the first half, shooting only 18.2 percent from behind the three-point line and 33.3 percent from the field.

Sophomore forward Roosevelt Jones was the first half’s leading scorer and rebounder with nine points and five rebounds.

Senior guard Rotnei Clarke scored only three points in the first half, going one-for-five from beyond the arc.

The 49ers (18-6, 6-4) took a 29-27 lead to halftime after a layup at the buzzer by Charlotte guard Pierria Henry was waived off by officials, then ruled good, then waived off again.

Butler struggled inside in the second half as they missed several scoring opportunities close to the basket.

The Bulldogs were outscored in the paint 38-24.

Charlotte was ahead by as many as 10 points, with 4:26 to play in regulation.

However, Clarke would finally find his rhythm in the final minutes of the game, scoring 15 of his 18 points in the final 3:21.

A Clarke 3-pointer with 6.7 seconds remaining brought the score to 68-67 and the Bulldogs found themselves within a point of the 49ers for the first time since the 16:23 mark in the second half.

Jones then fouled Henry who went to the line and made his first free throw. Senior guard Chase Stigall grabbed the rebound after Henry missed his second attempt and coach Brad Stevens called timeout with three seconds remaining.

Following the timeout, Charlotte senior forward E. Victor Nickerson stole Stigall’s inbounds pass to end Butler’s chance for a victory.

“It would have been, probably, a disservice for Butler to win that game,” Stevens said. “I thought Charlotte was great. I knew Charlotte coming in was going to be really hard for us to matchup with, in large part because their strengths are certainly something that we counter better with Andrew (Smith) than without.”

Stevens said he will not know what adjustments he will make going into this Saturday’s contest at Fordham until he watches film of the Charlotte game.

“We started Fromm and (freshman guard) Kellen (Dunham), obviously, and we thought that, everything we had suggested that with Andrew out, Fromm and Kellen are a good combination, and so we went with that,” Stevens said. “I felt relatively good about the way our starters played, for the most part. Not everybody but most of the starting lineup. And I think that’ll probably be similar Saturday, I don’t know that we’ll start exactly the same.”

The Bulldogs’ bench was held scoreless against the 49ers’ defense.

Fromm said he knew he had to rise to the challenge of starting in place of Smith.

“In terms of defense, I feel like we have guys that are capable and guys that are willing and able to step in, especially in big games, in a home game when you have someone who’s not there,” Fromm said. “You can’t think of excuses for a guy being gone. You have to take it to the chest and say this is my duty now, this is my game, I need to fill in where Andrew’s going to be gone and we’re just going to play the way we always play and that’s the way we need to think about it until Andrew comes back.

The Bulldogs will still be without Smith for this Saturday’s game in New York.

The game at Fordham tips off at 4 p.m. and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.