Butler Basketball: Breaking down the Dawgs’ win over St. John’s

Keys to success

I don’t mean to brag or anything but I think that my pregame keys to success in this contest were pretty spot-on. With that said, though, there were a few other facets of the game in which the Dawgs excelled in order to take the victory.

1. The energy was tremendous out of the gate.

Perhaps most notably, Butler came out of the locker room with a ton of energy. The Dawgs settled into the flow of the game quickly and they were able to make a big run early in the game and never look back. Butler has struggled from time to time throughout this season with coming out strong and they did just that in this one. When on their game and shooting well from deep, Butler can be very difficult to stop and it showed.

2. Dawgs rode the hot hands throughout.

It was clear from seemingly the open tip that Kamar Baldwin had it going in this one. He was able to get to the basket seemingly at will and knocked in a couple of huge 3-pointers as well. Additionally, sophomore forward Jordan Tucker was an offensive energizer bunny in this game. He came off the bench as a flamethrower, filling up the basket in a hurry. These two were at the top of their game throughout all 40 minutes and Butler rode them to the finish line.

3. Butler maintained composure down the stretch.

This one is about free throw shooting. Even though Butler certainly struggled from the charity stripe to begin the game (started 5-for-11), they turned it around when it mattered. The Dawgs were nearly perfect down the stretch from the free throw line, making eight of their last nine attempts. Kamar Baldwin, who shot 8-for-10 himself, was the best foul shooter on the night (by volume).