Butler Basketball: Bulldogs bounce back with home win over Furman

On the 22nd birthday of Butler basketball big man Tyler Wideman, the Bulldogs bounced back from their loss at Maryland with a victory over Furman.

After suffering their first loss of the season in College Park against Maryland, Butler basketball responded strongly on Nov. 18 with a convincing win against the Furman Paladins. Although star player Kelan Martin (8 pts on 2/9 shooting, 4 rebs, 4 asts) did not have his best game, the rest of the roster picked things up.

Leading the pack of players who stepped up for the Bulldogs was senior big man Tyler Wideman. Wideman, who played this game on his 22nd birthday, dominated the paint for all 18 minutes he spent on the floor, finishing with 19 points (7/12 shooting) and 7 rebounds. In addition, sophomores Kamar Baldwin (18 points on 7/11 shooting) and Sean McDermott (17 points, 5/7 from three) had excellent games.

For this game, head coach LaVall Jordan switched up the starting lineup by moving freshman Aaron Thompson to the starting lineup and moving junior Paul Jorgensen to the bench. Both players responded well to this shift, with Thompson running the offense well with four assists and with Jorgensen dropping in 16 points on 7/10 shooting.

Even though Jorgensen seemed to outplay Thompson in this game, the shift will likely continue in future games. Jorgensen looks to be more comfortable as the leading bench scorer while Thompson can be the top distributor of the starters.

For Furman, their star player, Devin Sibley, was shut down for the majority of the game. He was fairly efficient at 4/8 shooting but finished with just 11 points. The leader for the Paladins was Daniel Fowler, who finished with 19 points on 50% shooting from the field.

Overall, the differences in this game were the balanced scoring attack of Butler and their ability to limit Furman from 3-point range. Butler struggled immensely in guarding the perimeter in their first three games, but they were able to hold the Paladins to just 37% (10/27), far below the average of above 50% they were giving up in the earlier parts of the season.

Furman may not be a high-major team that looks great on the resume, but they are one of the favorites to win the Southern Conference this year and they are a potential tournament team as an automatic qualifier from the SoCon. The Paladins were hoping to come into Hinkle Fieldhouse and walk out with a huge road victory, but that was not destined to happen.

Next: Week 1 National Player of the Year rankings

It might not seem like it at face value, but this was a big win for Butler. Not only were they able to secure a victory over a fairly good Furman team, but they were also allowed to get one final tune-up game before the PK80 Tournament this coming week. Out in Portland, the Bulldogs are playing in the Motion Bracket with teams like Duke, Gonzaga, and Florida.

Next up for Butler: The Bulldogs will face Texas in the first round of the PK80 on Nov. 23.

Next up for Furman: The Paladins’ tough stretch of games continues as they face Duke on Nov. 20.