Graduate forward Michael Ajayi is Butler’s leading rebounder this season. Photo by Andrew Buckley.

SAWYER GOLDWEIN | SPORTS EDITOR | sgoldwein@butler.edu 

The men’s basketball team grabbed its first power-conference win of the season with a 79-72 victory over South Carolina at the Greenbrier Tip-Off.

After a close loss at SMU, the Dawgs needed a résumé-building win and got exactly that against the previously untested Gamecocks. 

South Carolina’s tallest starter was 6-foot-9 senior guard Mike Sharavjamts, leaving it with serious size issues against a lengthy Butler team. The ‘Cocks were beaten inside throughout the game, ultimately losing the rebounding battle 48-29. The Bulldogs capitalized, pouring in 23 second-chance points.

Graduate forward Michael Ajayi was the catalyst, overwhelming South Carolina with his physicality. Ajayi finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds, recording a fifth-straight double-double to begin his tenure with Butler.

Junior guard Finley Bizjack started slow, but mustered up a team-high 18 points, including a few timely three-pointers. Graduate backcourt-mate Jalen Jackson added 10 points and five rebounds.

The Dawgs were in control for the vast majority of the game, but could not quite put the Gamecocks away until the very end. Free throw shooting — which has been a struggle all season — left points on the board yet again. The Bulldogs went 20-of-34 from the charity stripe, a dismal 59% clip.

Butler has managed to remain mostly unpunished by poor free throw performances, but will have to clean it up as non-conference tune-ups turn into Big East tests.

The Bulldogs have one more game at the Greenbrier Tip-Off, a Nov. 23 tilt with Virginia.