Sophomore forward Augusto Cassio scored 16 points, grabbed four rebounds and had three blocks in his first starting nod this season. Photo by Eleanor Angelly

SARAH HOHMAN | MANAGING EDITOR | shohman@butler.edu

Butler men’s basketball bounced back with a 85-65 victory over Western Michigan.

Head coach Matta made a big change in the starting lineup by subbing sophomore forward Augusto Cassia in for fifth-year center Andre Screen. Cassia collected 16 points, four rebounds and three blocks in 20 minutes for the Dawgs. Senior guard Pierre Brooks led the team with 20 points and six assists on the night.

Let’s go beyond the box score in Butler’s second win on the season.

What went right

After only shooting 28% from three in the loss against Austin Peay, the Bulldogs were hot — going 47.5% from beyond the arc. Brooks was a solid contributor, going 4-5 from three, hitting three of those in the second half.

The Dawgs also had their season-low in turnovers at 11. Although that number is probably still too high for Thad Matta, it is an improvement from their first two matchups. Butler must keep knocking the number of giveaways down, especially as the competition advances.

Assistant coach Maurice Joseph said turnovers were a main focus that the Bulldogs knew they needed to improve on.

“We harped on it ad nauseam,” Joseph said. “We are very adamant at, not just the turnovers, but the quality of turnovers that were popping up. We bounced back in a lot of areas, we’re proud of that.”

The battle of the bigs

The bigs were receiving relatively equal minutes up until this point. With the change in the starting lineup, Cassia was on the court for 20 minutes, Screen played 11 and Boden Kapke only saw three.

Joseph talked about why the coaching staff made the decision to switch Cassia for Screen before the game.

“We have a three-prong center [rotation],” Joseph said. “We went with a lineup that gave us some energy. We still expect contributions from Boden [Kapke] and Andre [Screen].”

Cassia’s energy surely was seen on the court with not only his three blocks but with his 10 free throw attempts. The center showed aggression at the rim that was lacking on the Dawgs’ offense. He also continued to show a strong defensive presence down low.

Cassia believes his defense makes him valuable on the court.

“My ability to guard everybody on the court has helped a lot,” Cassia said. “I’m just out there trying to help. Anything, if you go out there I’m trying to help.”

Still room for improvement

A significant reason why the game stayed close for as long as it did was the Broncos’ offensive rebounding. Western Michigan grabbed 16 offensive boards compared to just two from Butler. Because of this, the Broncos scored 17 second chance points. Luckily for the Dawgs this game had the opportunity to be much worse than it was, but Butler must get stronger in the post going forward.

Butler has the opportunity to show they can continue to improve against SMU on Friday, Nov. 15 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.