Butler Basketball: Takeaways from road loss to Villanova

With dropping a road game to Villanova, Butler basketball has now lost three games in a row. What did we learn from this most recent defeat?

A three-game losing streak is never ideal, regardless of opponent. Yet, that is the skid that Butler basketball is currently on after falling on the road to Villanova in its most recent game. This has certainly been a disappointing stretch for the team as it comes just after rising to the No. 5 ranking in the AP Poll but it will hopefully only be an extended blip on the radar. After all, just about every other team in the country has laid an egg or two already this season.

There is no real sugarcoating it, though. Butler is on a three-game losing streak and it needs to find a way to remedy that. Thankfully, there were some positive takeaways amongst the negative from the Dawgs’ most-recent loss. Most importantly, the Dawgs showed some of what made them so successful over the first two months of the season. They limited turnovers, created open looks from the perimeter, and defended well when they weren’t committing fouls.

With that said, though, the Dawgs still lost the game by 15 points and there were several reasons for that. At the core of this was the fact that it takes a very strong performance to take down a Top 10 team in the country on the road, even for a fellow highly-rated squad.

While Butler played relatively well in this contest, it was not nearly enough to pull off the victory. This is especially true with regard to finishing possessions as there were several open shots that the Dawgs were able to create but simply not able to hit.

With the Dawgs now sitting at 15-4 (3-3 BE) on the season, let’s take a look back at this loss to Villanova and analyze some key takeaways.