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.

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.

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 fell short against Saint Louis Friday night, losing 65-61.

Junior guard Mike McCall Jr. led the Billikens (21-5, 10-2) with 18 points while junior forward Dwayne Evans added 17 points.

Sophomore forward Roosevelt Jones and senior guard Rotnei Clarke had 13 points each for the Bulldogs (22-6, 9-4).

Turnovers were an issue for Butler, who turned the ball over 14 times compared to Saint Louis’s four turnovers.

The Billikens were able to capitalize and scored 19 points off Butler turnovers.

Saint Louis’s shooters struggled early in the first half as they went more than five minutes without scoring, letting the Bulldogs take a 17-9 lead with 11:47 remaining in the half.

The Billikens also shot only 1 of 10 from behind the 3-point line in the first half.

Freshman guard Kellen Dunham led all first half scores with 14 points, going 2 of 3 from 3-point land and making all four of his free throw attempts.

Unfortunately for Butler, Dunham was held scoreless for the remainder of the game.

Saint Louis went on a key 19-7 run to start the second half as they pushed the lead to 48-41 with 13:27 to play.

The Billikens’ lead grew to as much as nine points before the Bulldogs got back into the game with key shots from Clarke.

Though Butler came within a point of Saint Louis with 3:32 to go in the game, they were unable to come away with the lead after having several chances to put them on top.

Free throw shooting did not come easily to either team as the Bulldogs shot 57.7 percent from the line while the Billikens shot 53.8 percent.

Coach Brad Stevens said Saint Louis’s early second half run was crucial to the game’s outcome.

“The start of the second half was the difference in the game, the first eight minutes or so,” Stevens said. “We stalled in the second half.”

Saint Louis dominated inside, outscoring Butler 38-14 in the paint.

Butler had previously lost on the road to the Billikens 75-58 on Jan. 31.

“To lose to a team twice, it hurts more than most,” Jones said.

Saint Louis remains in first place in the Atlantic 10 Conference standings at 10-2 in league play.

VCU is currently in second at 9-3 while Butler is in third at 9-4.

The Bulldogs are not back in action until Saturday, March 2 when they will take on the Rams of VCU in a road matchup.

Butler previously played VCU in the national semifinals of the 2011 Final Four.

The game will be nationally televised on ESPN at noon.

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.

The Butler men’s basketball team hosts Charlotte tonight at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The game will tip off at 7 p.m.

Senior center Andrew Smith will miss tonight’s and Saturday’s game at Fordham after sustaining an abdominal injury in Saturday’s win against George Washington.

He  alerted the team’s training staff of discomfort and received medical treatment after the game.

Smith will be re-evaluated next week.

The 49ers are 17-6 overall and are tied for seventh in the Atlantic 10 Conference standings with a record of 5-4.

Charlotte lost to A-10 co-leader Virginia Commonwealth at home last Saturday 68-61.

The team has not qualified for the NCAA tournament since the 2004-05 season, the season before it entered the A-10.

Charlotte finished 11th in the A-10 last season, going 13-17 overall and 5-11 in conference play.

The program has experienced a resurgence this year after going 12-2 in nonconference play to begin the season.

Three of the 49ers’ best wins have come at home, picking up victories against La Salle, Xavier and Massachusetts.

Butler is coming off a 59-56 win at George Washington last Saturday.

Senior guard Rotnei Clarke led the Bulldogs with 14 points, while junior forward Khyle Marshall grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

In NCAA Division I men’s basketball, many programs have likely come to accept that if Butler’s squad makes the championship tournament, it will be a dangerous and unpredictable force.

No matter who the Bulldogs play come tourney time, they can almost always guarantee a nail-biting affair.

Butler has established its relevance with years of success on the nation’s highest stage.

But this season’s team has established something that could be considered just as important.

This team is making Butler a scary school to face in the regular season.

Imagine you’re looking at your team’s schedule for the new season. There are the games that don’t really stick out and games that make fans say, “That should be a good game.”

But there’s a third category.

“This could be trouble.”

Personally, I saw the Indiana and Gonzaga games in this light. I believed they would be fantastic contests, but as a fan I was equally as prepared for a loss as for a victory.

This season’s Bulldogs have turned Butler into one of those teams, whether they know it or not.

They have proven they can beat other teams in a variety of ways and under numerous sets of circumstances.

Not to mention they have done so in rip-your-heart-out fashion, from the opposition’s perspective.

It’s hard to imagine Marquette, Indiana and Gonzaga players feeling very good after their last-second losses to Butler.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few looked exhausted and beleaguered after Saturday’s 64-63 Butler win. He looked like a man who had pulled out all the stops, who knew his team was on the cusp of a strong victory.

Butler ripped the rug out from under Few and his Bulldogs.

Few should know this story better than most. His mid-major program has beaten the big boys and forced them to take notice: you’d better not schedule us if you want a guaranteed victory.

It all starts with Butler coach Brad Stevens.

The man must have at least one android or monk as a parent. He was the calmest individual on the Hinkle Fieldhouse floor after Saturday’s win when many coaches would have been going bonkers.

But this is how he operates his program.

He has a way to simplify everything.

“It’s not like it’s doomsday,” Stevens said of trailing by a point with 3.5 seconds left and the ball going the wrong way. “Just go play (and) figure it out.”

This attitude trickles down.Sophomore guard and recent hero Roosevelt Jones is a soft-spoken man. But his description of the game-winning play against Gonzaga oozes of Stevens-talk.

“Just making a basketball play,” he said.

Freshman guard Kellen Dunham on replacing injured leading scorer Rotnei Clarke?

“I just tried to contribute as much as I could.”

Nothing intimidates these Bulldogs. Stevens has built a mid-major monster on that idea.

It’s a simple concept that has created a complex team. And one that will provide a scare on any schedule down the road.

What can the Butler men’s basketball team do with 3.5 seconds and the ball in the opposition’s possession?

Apparently, win a nationally televised game over a Top 10 team at the buzzer.

Sophomore forward Roosevelt Jones stole an Gonzaga inbound pass near midcourt and completed a layup with one tenth of a second remaining to give the No. 13 Butler Bulldogs a stunning 64-63 win over the No. 8 Gonzaga Bulldogs.

The basket sent what was an often-raucous Hinkle Fieldhouse crowd into a full-on frenzy that included a storming of the court.

“I never did in my life,” Jones said of hitting a buzzer-beating shot.

Butler (16-2, 3-0) was sure glad he chose this game for that career first.

Down 63-62 with just less than five seconds remaining and possession of the ball, sophomore guard Alex Barlow traveled on the inbound pass, setting up the dramatic game-winning play.

“(Gonzaga) made a great play running at (Barlow), forced him to walk,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “At that point, you’re still in the game because, no matter what, you’re gonna get a shot even if they make two free throws.

“It’s not like it’s complete doomsday.”

It is that mentality that has helped lead Butler to its ever-growing list of shocking victories, and it earned them one more on this evening in Indianapolis.

Gonzaga junior guard David Stockton attempted to lob an inbound pass over Butler junior forward Khyle Marshall to a teammate, but the ball ended up in the hands of Jones instead.

“I heard the (Gonzaga) coach tell Olynyk to get the lob, so I just played behind him and stole it,” Jones said. “I looked at the clock and I think it was four seconds, so I knew I could get it down (the court).

“Then I sprinted and I see Olynyk coming up to me and I floated it over him.”

It was a thrilling finish to a game that saw both sets of Bulldogs grind out every possession like it might be their last.

The final 1:26 of the contest saw five lead changes, each resulting in a one-point advantage.

Early on, Butler had a difficult time obtaining any sort of lead.

Gonzaga (17-2) came out firing on all cylinders, led by a career night from junior center Sam Dower.

Butler went up 3-2 minutes in on a 3-pointer by Barlow. From there, Gonzaga went on an 11-1 run to grab a 13-4 advantage.

Dower had four points during the run and went on to score 16 total in the first 20 minutes. He was averaging 7.2 points per contest coming in.

“(Butler defenders) jump the guards, and we were able to throw it back to (Dower),” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “He’s a very good face up shooter. It’s kind of his wheelhouse.”

Butler started connecting on its 3-point attempts later in the half to turn the tide.

Freshman guard Kellen Dunham drained his first 3-point shot a little more than six minutes in to cut Gonzaga’s lead to 13-7.

With about 11 minutes remaining in the opening 20, Dunham hit another 3-pointer, which was closely followed by senior guard Chase Stigall’s first triple of the evening.

“I just tried to contribute as much as I could,” Dunham said. “(My teammates) did a great job of giving me the ball when I needed it.”

Dunham’s third 3-pointer of the half pushed Butler out to a 22-20 lead with 7:52 to go in the half.

More back-and-forth action followed, and Gonzaga would eventually take a 33-32 advantage into the locker room.

“You saw it, it was a pretty even game,” Few said. “I thought, in the first half, they shot the ball really well from three.”

Butler connected on seven of 13 3-point attempts in the first 20 minutes, but was unable to replicate that success in the second half.

Stevens acknowledged that replacing injured senior guard Rotnei Clarke’s offense through the entire game was not possible. Clarke missed his second consecutive game following a neck injury at Dayton last Saturday.

“No offense to anybody on our team, but nobody on our team does exactly what Rotnei does,” Stevens said. “You have to scheme a little differently, and I thought we really did a pretty good job of doing that all game.”

The second half saw the hard-nosed play continue, as easy points were at a bare minimum.

Both teams scraped together 14 points in the paint in the final 20 minutes.

Butler took a quick four-point lead with a layup by Jones and a 3-pointer by Dunham, the team’s only long-distance field goal in the second half.

The largest lead for the remainder of the contest was a five-point cushion for Butler at 55-50 with 4:31 to play.

A predominantly pro-Butler crowd sat on the edge of its collective seat for every play in the game. In the final two minutes, however, it seemed Hinkle might be lifted off its foundation.

With Butler leading 59-58, Gonzaga senior forward Elias Harris made a layup to give his squad a one-point advantage with 1:26 remaining.

Jones responded with a layup of his own to push Butler back out in front, but Harris banked a shot in off the glass on Gonzaga’s next possession to give the Zags a 61-60 lead.

Not to be outdone, Barlow kissed a shot off the glass and in with 24 seconds left to put Butler ahead 62-61.

Gonzaga was unable to break down the Butler defense on its next possession, but junior forward Kelly Olynyk managed to draw a foul in the paint with 4.5 seconds left.

He sank two free throws, and the Zags lead 63-62 to set up the final, nail-biting sequence.

Butler had chances to add breathing room through free throw shooting, but was often unable to do so. Butler finished the game 12 of 23 from the charity stripe, as no player who went to the line shot 100 percent.

Jones recorded a game-high 20 points with five rebounds and four assists. Dunham was the only other Butler player in double figures with 14 points.

Senior center Andrew Smith led Butler with seven rebounds while doing his best to limit Olynyk and Harris down low.

Harris and Dower both tallied 20 points, and Olynyk dropped 14 for Gonzaga. Harris and Olynyk both recorded seven rebounds as well.

The game was the first stop for ESPN’s College GameDay. Multiple ESPN personalities arrive on a custom-made bus to analyze and cover the game, and the crew taped a show early Saturday morning on the Hinkle floor.

During that show, Butler student Kevin Schwartz hit a half-court shot to win $18,000.

“It was great,” Stevens said of the experience. “We hope we might earn our way back sometime on GameDay.”

Butler will head back into Atlantic 10 Conference play Wednesday in a road game against La Salle. Stevens said Clarke is “unlikely” to play in that game.

Stevens said Butler cannot afford to focus on the victory over Gonzaga for too long with conference play resuming this week.

“I think the biggest thing is we’ve got to move on from here,” Stevens said. “We don’t have time to bask in anything.”

Alex Barlow hit a tear-drop layup with less than three seconds remaining in overtime, and the Butler men’s basketball team shocked No. 1 Indiana 88-86 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse Saturday.

The game was the first of two in the second Crosstown Classic.

“My initial thoughts were we were in trouble when it was 84-80 with three guys sitting on the bench next to me,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “Such a gutty effort by our guys. Don’t use this as an excuse to get down on Indiana.”

With about 19 seconds remaining in the game, the score was tied at 86 and Barlow moved the ball upcourt off an inbound pass. He let some time tick off the clock, then drove it straight into the paint, twisting and turning as he released the floater. It bounced around the rim and eventually fell with 2.5 seconds remaining.

“I was looking for the options, and they weren’t open,” Barlow said. “I saw the clock at about six (seconds), so I figured I’d try to make a play.

“The floater is a shot I work on a lot, and I just happened to get a lucky bounce.”

Indiana called a timeout to draw up their final play, but senior guard Jordan Hulls was unable to connect from near half court as time expired.

The Bulldogs (8-2) played all of the overtime frame without senior center Andrew Smith and sophomore forward Roosevelt Jones, who both fouled out in regulation.

Many of Butler’s key players struggled with foul trouble all afternoon. In addition to Smith and Jones, junior forward Erik Fromm fouled out during the overtime period. Barlow had tallied four by the end of the contest.

The game started at a slow pace, which played into Butler’s hands. The Hoosiers (9-1) scored the first points of the game nearly two minutes in.

The Bulldogs grabbed an early 9-5 advantage with four points from Jones and a 3-point basket from Smith.

Indiana moved in front 13-12 on a dunk by junior guard Victor Oladipo with 11:38 remaining in the half. Butler would not lead again until the 5:54 mark of the second half.

Indiana led 37-33 at halftime, spurred by nearly 44 percent shooting from the field and 12 free throw attempts to Butler’s four.

The Bulldogs shot better than 39 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, but they struggled to contain Oladipo, who tallied 10 points in that time.

While the Hoosiers’ defense did a good job containing senior guard Rotnei Clarke in the first half (six points), Jones was all over the court. He posted eight points, eight rebounds and five assists in 19 minutes of action.

“I thought it was hard for them to guard Roosevelt, really hard,” Stevens said. “With all due respect to everyone else on the court, I thought he was the best player on the floor when he was on the floor. When that ball went up to the rim, he found ways to get it on both ends of the floor.”

Clarke credited Oladipo with attempting a different type of defense while guarding him.

“Most guys will stay below me, but Oladipo went high and kind of denied me, trying not to let me touch the ball,” Clarke said. “It was my teammates in the second half.”

The Bulldogs trailed 57-50 after senior forward Christian Watford hit a free throw with nine minutes remaining.

Butler began its push toward regaining the lead after the converted free throw. The Bulldogs scored six of the next eight points to cut the deficit to 59-56. Smith then made a pair of layups, sandwiched around a 3-point basket from Dunham.

Stigall then drained a 3-pointer to push Butler to a 66-59 lead.

The Hoosiers did not hit a field goal between a 3-pointer by junior forward Will Sheehey at the 11:24 mark and a layup by sophomore guard Remy Abell at the 3:43 mark.

Up 71-64 with 2:25 remaining, Butler attempted to fend off a push by Indiana. The Hoosiers pulled to within two with 1:14 remaining at 71-69.

Dunham made one of two free throws — the miss was only his second of the season — on the next possession to give Butler a three-point lead. Freshman guard Yogi Farrell then committed a turnover with 49 seconds remaining, after which Dunham was fouled again. This time, he sank both free throw attempts to put Butler up 74-69.

Farrell made a layup on IU’s next possession, and Oladipo used a full court press to steal the ball from Dunham on the ensuing inbound pass. Oladipo made a layup to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to one.

Barlow was fouled on the next possession and made a pair of free throws, giving Butler a 76-73 lead.

Indiana gave the ball to Farrell on offense, and he responded by sinking a 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds left to tie the game.

Butler senior guard Chase Stigall attempted a 3-point shot of his own on the final possession of regulation, but he was unable to convert.

“We had a timeout left, but as he was dribbling down the court, I didn’t see us getting a better look than that,” Stevens said.

Butler shot nearly 52 percent from the field in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to put away the Hoosiers just yet. Indiana hit 18 of 24 free throw opportunities in the second half to stave off defeat in regulation.

The Bulldogs entered overtime without Smith and Jones, who both fouled out in the final two minutes of regulation. They also went into extra time with Barlow and Fromm both sitting on four fouls.

“Proud of your effort, keep it going,” Stevens said of his message to the team heading into overtime. “We switched a ton of ball screens. We didn’t feel like we wanted to give that up on those guys.”

The Hoosiers took an 84-80 lead with 2:14 remaining in overtime after a layup by sophomore forward Cody Zeller. The Bulldogs would not be denied, however, as Clarke and Stigall sank back-to-back 3′s after the Zeller basket to give Butler an 86-84 advantage.

Zeller made another basket with 23 seconds remaining to knot the game up at 86, setting the stage for Barlow’s dramatics.

It was Butler’s first victory over a No. 1 team in the regular season. The Bulldogs posted their fifth consecutive victory overall and their sixth straight at Bankers Life.

“I told Rotnei, you didn’t come here to win a game in December,” Stevens said. “As a coach, I’d like to have Xavier and Illinois back, but I’m not going to be greedy.”

Jones called the victory “a good confidence boost,” but said the Bulldogs are aware of their ability.

“We already know how good we are and how good we can be,” Jones said. “So we just want to prepare for Evansville and get ready to play hard again another game.”

Clarke finished with a game-high 19 points on 7 of 19 shooting, including 5 of 11 from beyond the arc. Clarke, who is in his first season with Butler, played all but a few possessions in the contest.

“I think it’s work ethic,” Clarke said of his ability to play for long stretches. “Just going into the gym every night and shooting game-like shots and doing game-like things has really prepared me for this.”

Jones had a game-high 12 rebounds and tallied 16 points in 29 minutes. Smith finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, while junior forward Khyle Marshall and Fromm also reached double figures in scoring.

Oladipo was Indiana’s offensive sparkplug, tallying 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting. He also had four steals and a pair of blocks.

“Oladipo is just a hard guy to play against,” Stevens said. “We walked out of our locker room, I turned to (assistant coach) Matthew Graves and said ‘I’ve never seen a guy that athletic.’”

Zeller also recorded 18 points, although 10 of them came from the free throw line. Sheehey (13), Ferrell (12) and Watford (10) all posted double-figure points as well.

Butler outrebounded Indiana 40-38, including a 24-17 advantage at halftime. The Hoosiers turned the ball over just one time outside of Oladipo and Ferrell, who each had six turnovers.

The Bulldogs will now prepare for Evansville, whom they’ve lost to in overtime each of the last two seasons. This season’s contest will happen at Hinkle Fieldhouse at 2:00 Saturday.

“Ready to go,” Clarke said. “We’ll enjoy this one today, but we’ll get prepared and be ready for them.”