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Butler Basketball: Keys to success in home matchup with Villanova

By Lukas Harkins

PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 10: Kamar Baldwin #3 of the Butler Bulldogs drives to the basket against Collin Gillespie #2 of the Villanova Wildcats at the Wells Fargo Center on February 10, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 10: Kamar Baldwin #3 of the Butler Bulldogs drives to the basket against Collin Gillespie #2 of the Villanova Wildcats at the Wells Fargo Center on February 10, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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PHILADELPHIA, PA – FEBRUARY 10: McDermott of Butler drives to the basket. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – FEBRUARY 10: McDermott of Butler drives to the basket. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

Butler basketball has a huge opportunity approaching with the Big East leader, Villanova, coming to Hinkle. What will the Dawgs need to do to win?

Has Butler basketball turned a corner? This is definitely not the first time I have asked this question so far this year but it is reasonable to think that the Dawgs are finally realizing their potential. Thanks to the emergence of Jordan Tucker and the spectacular play of Kamar Baldwin, the Dawgs have played at a very high level in each of their past two performances (wins over DePaul and St. John’s). It is time to take this team seriously as an under-the-radar threat to be very dangerous come March.

With that said, though, Butler has an extremely difficult matchup approaching with Villanova coming to visit Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Wildcats, who scuffled a bit to begin this season, have caught fire a bit in recent weeks while emerging as one of the favorites to win the Big East (along with Marquette). Villanova is the last remaining undefeated team in the conference and they have been led by an elite senior duo of Phil Booth and Eric Paschall. These two are combining for 35.0 points per game on the season to lead the way for head coach Jay Wright.

Thankfully, though, Butler has its own dynamic duo that can be extremely dangerous. Over the Dawgs’ last few games, Kamar Baldwin and Jordan Tucker have been playing very well:

With all of this said, though, the Dawgs will need to play quite well to walk away victorious in this matchup. Now, without any further ado, let’s dive into three potential keys to success for Butler against Villanova. (All statistics used in this article were found via Sports-Reference or KenPom unless otherwise noted.)