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Butler Basketball: Takeaways from overtime home win over Marquette

By Lukas Harkins

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JANUARY 15: Kamar Baldwin #3 of the Butler Bulldogs reacts after hitting a three-point shot against the Seton Hall Pirates in the first half at Hinkle Fieldhouse on January 15, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JANUARY 15: Kamar Baldwin #3 of the Butler Bulldogs reacts after hitting a three-point shot against the Seton Hall Pirates in the first half at Hinkle Fieldhouse on January 15, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – JANUARY 24: Baldwin of the Bulldogs drives. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – JANUARY 24: Baldwin of the Bulldogs drives. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Butler basketball returned to its winning ways with a hard-fought overtime home win over Marquette. What did we learn from the performance?

Butler basketball entered its contest with Marquette following a three-game losing streak and was going to be playing without two of its main rotation pieces. After losing Christian David for the season to an ACL tear earlier in the week, it was announced a couple of hours before tip-off that starting point guard Aaron Thompson would miss the game with a wrist injury. Despite facing this adversity, the Dawgs answered the call in front of their home crowd to pull off a thrilling overtime victory.

In front of a sold-out Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler played with energy, fearlessness, physicality, and a whole bunch of onions. Kamar Baldwin, most notably, was the star of this game as he absolutely took over down the stretch to push the Dawgs in front after trailing for the majority of the game. The senior superstar was flat-out tremendous and there is no other way to describe it.

He led the game with 31 total points while fellow seniors Sean McDermott (16p/9r) and Henry Baddley (10p) joined him in double-figures. The upperclassman leadership of the team was on full display in this game. That was also evident on the sidelines as Thompson/David remained extremely engaged in helping the team from the bench despite their injuries.

474. 89. 472. Final/OT. 85

Marquette was led on the night by Markus Howard. The star guard managed to post 26 points but shot just 8-for-27 from the field to get to that point. Sacar Anim was spectacular by dropping 22 points (8-for-17 FG) alongside him and Koby McEwen/Brendan Bailey hit some big-time trifectas as well. The Golden Eagles buried 16 total 3-pointers as a team in this game but were unable to come away with the win.

Now that the final buzzer has sounded, let’s dive a bit deeper into this performance from the Butler angle. What did we learn about this game that could carry into the future for the Dawgs?