Butler Basketball: Takeaways from home win over Xavier

1. Dawgs won the bench battle.

Butler’s lack of contributions off the bench in recent weeks has been well-documented. While the occasional strong game from Tucker or Henry Baddley has buoyed this facet of the game at times, the Dawgs simply haven’t had the same consistent reserve punch since Christian David was lost for the season. Aaron Thompson’s injury that forced Tucker into a starting role also hurt Butler’s depth.

In this contest, though, all three of Butler’s reserves stepped in and made big-time impacts. While the starting lineup predictably led the way for the majority of the contest, this victory would not have been possible without the contributions of the reserves. Butler’s bench outscored Xavier’s bench 23-6 in the game and each reserve made at least a couple of clutch shots.

With Henry Baddley, he immediately stepped into the game and made a huge impact. Although mostly known as a defensive stopper, the senior seized the opportunity of seeing quality minutes by draining three 3-pointers in the first half. I have stated throughout this season that Baddley has embodied the “next man up” mantra and that applied once again in this one.

Derrik Smits also came up with arguably one of the biggest shots of the game. Xavier went on a huge run after Thompson went out with an injury and had cut its deficit to just six when Smits got the ball inside and made a quick post move for a bucket. While he did go down with a knee injury later in the game, that was a crucial shot to help get Butler back on track.

Jordan Tucker also waited to make the majority of his impact until the second half but he hit some big shots as well. The most important was perhaps his off-the-dribble long two with the shot clock expiring just after Smits’ bucket a few possessions earlier. He also proceeded to bury a pair of contested trifectas to ignite the Hinkle crowd and push Butler’s lead to 14 with just over five minutes to play.