Fifth-year Patrick McCaffrey led the Dawgs with 16 points. Photo courtesy of Butler Athletics.
DAVID JACOBS | SPORTS CO-EDITOR | drjacobs@butler.edu
The men’s basketball team fell to AP No. 6 St. John’s 78-57 in the second round of the Big East Tournament, putting an end to a forgetful season in year three under head coach Thad Matta.
After a cold start from the floor by both teams, the Dawgs were able to even the score with a three-pointer from fifth-year forward Patrick McCaffrey just a few minutes into the game. Then the Red Storm took over, going on a debilitating 15-0 run paced by junior guard RJ Luis Jr.
“We got down big early with [fifth-year forward Jahmyl Telfort] on the bench,” Matta said. “Their athleticism makes it so difficult, we were having a hard time.”
While the Dawgs were able to scrap back to as small as a nine-point deficit late in the half, the incredible run by St. John’s was indicative of how the game has gone for Butler.
From the tip, Matta had the Bulldogs run variations of 1-3-1 and 2-3 zones trying to force the Red Storm into ineffective three point attempts. With St. John’s exploiting the defense to the tune of 35% from deep, the Dawgs could not keep up by shooting 34% from the field and 30% from distance.
The inefficiencies and poor play are nothing new for the Bulldogs against the top-ranked Johnnies, as each previous matchup saw Butler convert at just a 39% rate. However, the 21-point margin of defeat is foreign territory as both prior losses to St. John’s were a combined deficit of 14 points.
“They made a lot of tough plays,” Telfort said. “The first two games we were able to score — we didn’t score a lot today and just came up short.”
As the game matured through the second half, even the near-capacity attendance of St. John’s faithful at Madison Square Garden grew near boredom of the utter beatdown the Red Storm had brought to the Dawgs.
Many factors contributed to such a one-sided loss to end the season, but they can all be summed up into one word: intensity.
From the players to the coaches, St. John’s played with an intensity that Butler has not seen from a team since 2019-20, the last season that the Dawgs reached 20 wins.
St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino was adamant that the performance was a ‘four-star performance,’ as his team advances in the conference tournament.
“We played good enough to win,” Pitino said. “We did a lot of good things tonight, but a lot of things we need to get better at.”
With the loss, the Dawgs finish their season with a measly 14-19 record — the second time in three years finishing with 14 wins under Matta.
“We’ve obviously got a lot of work to do,” Matta said. “That’s from every phase of our program, we’re losing four seniors who are a lot of our production. With the four guys we got coming in, we’ll have to get them as ready as we can and we’ll have to add a few pieces to the puzzle.”
