Butler basketball suffered a loss at the hands of Dayton in their opening game of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament. Where were some key takeaways?
Well, that was rough. For basically all 40 minutes of Butler basketball’s opening game of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament, they were outplayed by Dayton. The Flyers got off to a hot start from the field in the game and gained an advantage early that the Dawgs were unable to recover from due to a poor offensive showing. And while losses are bound to happen throughout this season, this was an ugly one because the team just never seemed to get comfortable on the court.
Butler was led in scoring on the night by Sean McDermott, who netted 18 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Henry Baddley, who scored eight points off the bench, was the only other player (with more than two field goal attempts) to make the majority of his shots in this one for the Dawgs.
For Dayton, they relied on a heavy dosage of Josh Cunningham (18 points) and Jalen Crutcher (20 points) to come away with the win. Butler seemingly had no answer for these two when they touched the ball. Their efficient scoring (13-for-19 FG) on an otherwise off night from just about everyone else on the floor from both teams was a major key to victory.
So, without further rehashing of the game, here were three major takeaways for Butler after this loss:
1. Slow starts kill.
This one is fairly obvious. Butler got off to a slow start in this game on both ends of the floor. The Dawgs struggled to contain the Flyers’ scoring during the first half and were unable to find any rhythm offensively. This led to an 11-point deficit heading into halftime that proved to be too steep in the second half.
Butler played much better in the last 20 minutes of this game and actually won the second half by six points. Still, they were unable to recover from their first-half play. Moving forward, Butler will hopefully post stronger starts on both ends of the floor. This is obviously something that every team wants to do, though, so this means coming out with energy and a strong gameplan for controlling the tempo and attacking mismatches.
2. Baldwin needs to get to the free throw line.
In Butler’s narrow victory over Ole Miss prior to the B4A, Kamar Baldwin struggled tremendously from the field but still managed to make a major impact on the game due to his free throw shooting. And while he continued his shooting woes in this one (5-for-17), he was unable to draw fouls at nearly the same rate against Dayton. He only attempted two foul shots in the entire game (shot 12-for-12 from the line against Ole Miss).
Baldwin is going to have nights where he is unable to score efficiently from the field but can still be very effective as long as he gets to the line. He did not against Dayton and that caused him to post his worst stat line of the young season: 11 points (5-for-17 FG), 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 turnovers. Butler cannot consistently win ballgames without either Baldwin dominating or a group of players all stepping up.
3. Thompson’s foul trouble can be an issue.
Regardless of how you may feel about Aaron Thompson‘s playing style, Butler is simply better when he is on the floor. He is the only true point guard on the roster and is an above-average defender as well. He allows Kamar Baldwin the opportunity to play off the ball and creates well for others when on the court. However, in addition to his poor shooting from distance and the free throw line, Thompson has another major weakness: foul trouble.
This was something that plagued Thompson throughout last season and came back again in the loss to Dayton. AT fouled out of this loss after just 17 minutes on the court and he was never able to get into a rhythm on the court. He consistently needed to be taken out of the game due to foul trouble and the Dawgs are better if he is able to stay on the floor for extended minutes. His defense is valuable but less so when he is committing fouls that force him to the bench.
On the whole, though, I am not going to get too down on the Dawgs after this game. It is simply one loss in a long season. If Butler is able to snag two wins in the next two days, they will still have a strong record with a couple of decent wins on the resume. With tests against Saint Louis, Indiana, and Florida left in the non-conference schedule, their SOS should still be fine by the end of the year.
Bad games happen from time to time and the focus now has to turn to preparing for Middle Tennessee or Virginia. It will be encouraging if the Dawgs are able to use this loss as motivation to run through their next few games of competition. Butler will be fine. No need to panic.