After having a few days off since its first loss of the season, Butler basketball responded nicely with a blowout victory over Southern.
Butler basketball has been one of the best teams in the country throughout the opening month of the season and it proved why once again in a 25-point beatdown of Southern on Dec. 14th. Behind another stellar defensive performance and a balanced offensive attack, the Dawgs dominated from the opening tip for a wire-to-wire victory. While this result was likely expected considering the Jaguars were regarded as the Dawgs’ easiest non-conference opponent of the year, absolutely no performances should ever be taken for granted.
The Dawgs have visualized every single game so far this season as an opportunity and they seized this one from the jump. Butler leaped out to a quick 8-0 lead over the first few minutes and simply never looked back. Over the course of the contest, Southern was held to just 22.5% shooting inside the arc. Although the road team was able to knock down some contested triples (7-for-19 from three), it’s hard to find much fault in Butler’s defensive performance.
By the time the final buzzer sounded in Hinkle Fieldhouse, the scoreboard showed a 66-41 advantage in favor of the home team. This was, on the whole, just another strong performance for the squad that has earned a place in the nation’s top-25 through the first month of the season. Over the first 11 games of this season, the Dawgs have essentially taken the low preseason expectations set for them and thrown them out the window. This team was once picked to finish eighth in the Big East but now looks like one of the favorites to win the league.
Head coach LaVall Jordan has his team playing as a true unit and with discipline. With regard to this particular victory over Southern, though, let’s dive a bit deeper to analyze some of the most important takeaways.