Butler’s men’s basketball team huddles up. The Bulldogs are now 3-4 in Big East play. Collegian file photo. 

JOSHUA DOERING | ASST. SPORTS EDITOR | jdoering@butler.edu

The Butler men’s basketball team failed to build off its win over Marquette, falling on the road to Providence. Winning any road Big East game is a massive challenge and the Bulldogs came close to doing just that. However, there were warning signs on both ends of the floor that need to be addressed. Here are three takeaways.

1. Butler played a great first half on defense and then fell apart.

The Bulldogs gave up at least 83 points in their first six Big East contests, but held the Friars to only 70. Just as promising as the 70 points is that Providence shot 33 percent from the field and 29 percent from three in the first half. The Friars then came out after halftime and connected on their first eight field goal attempts. Not only did Providence take the lead during that stretch, but the entire complexion of the game changed.

While it’s great that Butler’s offense can be electric at times, road games are won by playing good defense without fouling. There will be times when the offense struggles and the Bulldogs are going to have to win with defense. Until this game, Butler’s offense has been solid since conference play began. When it was needed most, Butler’s defense failed to put together 40 solid minutes. The Friars shot 72 percent and outscored Butler 45-31 in the second half. That was the difference in the game.

2. The Bulldogs weren’t aggressive offensively and found it hard to score as a result.

In the entire first half, Providence was called for two fouls. Without getting into the bonus, Butler got to the free throw line only twice before halftime. It’s not surprising then that the Bulldogs couldn’t reach 30 points until 1:24 into the second half. Add in a poor shooting performance from the 3-point line (six-for-24), and you have the recipe for a rough game on the offensive end. Butler did get to the charity stripe 14 times in the second half, but only converted at a 57 percent clip.

On a more basic level, the Bulldogs simply weren’t very difficult to defend for large portions of this game. There was a good deal of standing around followed by a contested shot late in the shot clock, as the nine assists on 22 made field goals suggests. The ball moved around the perimeter without any real purpose. In a game where Kelan Martin was held to six points on three-for-14 shooting, Butler didn’t get enough easy points, particularly in the first half, and failed to capitalize on the ones they did get.

3. Butler can’t afford to keep letting winnable games slip away. 

The good news is that Butler has been competitive in every Big East game so far, but has failed to capitalize on multiple occasions. The Bulldogs had led at halftime against both Seton Hall and now Providence at halftime before eventually coming up short. In the second half of those games, Butler was outscored by 21 points. Had Butler managed to win both games, the Bulldogs would be 5-2 in the Big East.

Teams are going to have a bad half here and there, runs happen. That being said, Butler needs to find a way to put an end to this trend. Twenty good minutes, either in the first or second half, isn’t enough to win in this league. The Bulldogs look great at times and really bad at others. The next step in the development of this team is making their play more consistent across longer periods of time.