Fifth-year forward Jahmyl Telfort had 19 points in the win over SMU. Photo by Andrew Buckley.
CALEB DENORME | SPORTS EDITOR | cdenorme@butler.edu
The Bulldogs stacked another early-season win on Friday night, besting SMU 81-70 thanks to a second half of runs. Let’s go beyond the box score.
A comprehensive performance
Of Butler’s four games this season, this matchup was its best performance. The Dawgs coupled physical defense with purposeful, highly efficient offense to take down the Mustangs.
The Bulldogs shot 41% from the field, but the stat that will pop out is their three-point percentage. 42% of the shots Butler took were beyond the arc and they hit 46.2% of those shots. SMU on the other hand shot just 33.3% from deep.
The other bright spot on the offensive side was the scoring distribution. Six Dawgs finished with double-digits in the scoring column, with fifth-year forward Jahmyl Telfort leading the charge with 19 points. Telfort attributed the scoring boom to Butler’s mentality throughout the game.
“We just wanted to keep punching,” Telfort said. “We knew that we were going to make a run.”
The Bulldogs certainly made runs. A pair of 16-2 and 8-0 runs in the second half gave Butler the cushion it needed. The Hinkle crowd got behind them in raucous fashion and did not let up until the final buzzer sounded. That noise was mainly generated by play at the offensive end, but the Dawgs were stellar on the defensive side as well.
While Butler was outrebounded and lost the turnover battle, the Dawgs were able to limit the scoring distribution. Only two Mustangs got into double digits, and role players such as fifth-year center Andre Screen and junior guard Kolby King played a massive role defensively. Screen and King both grabbed several crucial rebounds to limit SMU’s possessions down the line.
Butler’s defense only allowed the Mustangs to grab the lead for three minutes and 16 seconds throughout the game. On the other hand, the Bulldogs led for over 31 minutes. Head coach Thad Matta was impressed with how his team executed tonight.
“We were very specific in our gameplan going into tonight,” Matta said. “We kept talking in every timeout [saying] ‘Do your job.’”
This is the performance that Butler fans were looking for from this team. It took four games, but it seems like the Bulldogs have most of their early-season issues sorted. Time will tell if they can keep them that way.
Chuck Harris’ homecoming
Senior guard Chuck Harris spent three seasons at Butler before transferring to SMU prior to Matta’s second year back with the Bulldogs. He made his official return to Hinkle Fieldhouse in front of a packed house, and he did not disappoint.
Harris had 21 points on 8/15 shooting, grabbed three rebounds and three steals. He was greeted with boos from Dawg Pound and the Butler faithful upon his entrance into the game. Harris responded by playing with a palpable energy and intensity at both ends.
Frustration set in during the second half though. Harris slapped at Telfort after the play was whistled dead and was hit with a technical foul. In the waning moments of the game, he also took a hard foul on sophomore guard Finley Bizjack when the contest was essentially over. This garnered more boos and catcalls from the fans.
Nevertheless, Harris showed up. He led his team in points despite coming off the bench. He was able to prove he could still play, but ultimately was unable to propel his team to a victory.
Butler will take the win over their former star and move on to a matchup with Merrimack College on Friday, Nov. 22.
