Butler will go on the road to face their fourth consecutive ranked opponent in Creighton this week. Can the Bulldogs pull out the win away from home?
Matchup: Butler Bulldogs (12-5, 2-2) at Creighton Bluejays (13-3, 3-1)
Time: Tuesday, January 9th at 8:30 p.m. ET
TV schedule: Fox Sports 1
Location: CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
What does Butler bring to the table?
After defeating Villanova at home in their second conference game of the year, the Butler Bulldogs have lost back-to-back games. Thankfully, both losses came against top-15 teams in the country but the team was very close to coming away with an even better start to the Big East schedule. Although it never seemed like Butler was going to win their road game against Xavier, the team looked strong and competed and stayed close for all 40 minutes.
Butler Bulldogs Basketball
It was the home loss to Seton Hall, though, that stings the most. Despite leading by 10 in the second half, the Bulldogs were unable to hold off a fierce Pirates’ run. Seton Hall never led by more than four in the entire game but that was enough to beat Butler. These two losses were certainly tough to take for Butler but that could open them up for a renewed fire in this road game against Creighton.
In LaVall Jordan’s first season as the head coach of the Dawgs, his team is led by senior Kelan Martin. Arguably one of the top-5 players in the Big East, Martin is one of the best scorers in the nation. For the season, Martin is leading the Bulldogs with 19.8 points (25.8 per game in conference games) and 6.5 rebounds per game.
He is joined in double figures by sophomore Kamar Baldwin and junior Paul Jorgensen. Baldwin, who struggled a bit to open the year, has averaged 23.0 points in conference play to bring his season average in scoring up to 15.3 points per game. An all-around player on both ends of the floor, Baldwin is also putting up 4.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.8 steals per game.
Jorgensen, on the other hand, is the sharpshooter of the Bulldogs. For the year, “Paulie” is averaging 11.8 points per game while splashing home 41.8% of his 91 3-point attempts. With a light as green as Jorgensen’s, this percentage is somewhat impressive. If Paulie starts to get heated up from deep, it is time to watch out because he could pull from anywhere.
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What does Creighton bring to the table?
Of course, Creighton has plenty of scorers, too. Greg McDermott‘s team ranks third in the nation in scoring offense at 90.2 points per game. The leading scorer on the team is Marcus Foster. While putting up 18.8 points per game, the senior has been very efficient. He is hitting on 50.2% of his total shots, which includes 43.3% from deep on 104 total attempts.
The only odd thing about Foster’s game is that he is not particularly great from the free throw line. His sample size of just 37 FTA so far this season (73.0% on those attempts) is quite small but it exemplifies his entire career from the line. Across all four years of his collegiate career (at Kansas State and Creighton), Foster is just an average foul shooter at 253-for-354 (71.5) from the stripe.
Next on the scouting report for Creighton is Khyri Thomas. As evident by being named one of the Big East Defensive Players of the Year last season, Thomas is an elite defender in addition to finishing well on the offensive end. He is sitting at 14.9 points per game this year and is hitting on 39.7% of his 3-point shots.
As for their big men, Martin Krampelj and Toby Hegner (only 13 games played) play off of each other well. While Hegner is more of a stretch big (40.5% on 37 3PA), Krampelj is the leading rebounder on the team at 8.2 boards per game. Of course, that is without saying that Krampelj is not afraid of stepping out and hitting a 3-pointer as well (5-for-20 on the year).
With eight Bluejays scoring over five points per game this season, Greg McDermott’s team is unbelievably balanced and hard to stop. However, they will have their hands full with the stars on the Butler roster.
Next: Bracketology: Where are Butler and Creighton?
To me, this game will come down to how Creighton covers Butler’s Martin. The senior Bulldog is very difficult to defend because of his ability to attack the basket and shoot from deep at 6’8″. He will be a tough matchup for whoever Creighton puts on him. In the two games last year (both won by Creighton), Martin was held to just 18 total points on 7-for-21 shooting.
In their first meeting this year, I think that Martin will look to get revenge after struggling in both of Butler’s losses to Creighton a year ago and come away with a big road win. Martin has improved in his shot selection and passing, making him a more dangerous offensive asset. He is a whole different animal to try to stop this year.
Final prediction: Butler 89, Creighton 85