Butler Basketball: 5 best games from the 2019-20 season

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - FEBRUARY 05: Kamar Baldwin #3 of the Butler Bulldogs celebrates with the fans after a win over the Villanova Wildcats at Hinkle Fieldhouse on February 05, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Bulldogs defeated the Wildcats 79-76. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /

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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 05: McDermott of the Bulldogs looks. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /

5. Butler (69) at Georgetown (64) – Jan. 28th

Sean McDermott’s final season was largely overshadowed by the work of his senior counterpart (Baldwin) but he put together an excellent campaign of his own to help propel Butler to success. Back at his normal position on the wing, McDermott excelled from the opening tip while showing a bit more assertiveness on the offensive end.

While he made several huge plays over the course of the year, his monster performance on the road against Georgetown near the end of January makes this list as one of Butler’s most exciting games of the year.

The Dawgs entered this contest having lost three of its last four games (more on that one win in a bit) and would be playing its first road game without defensive standouts Aaron Thompson and Christian David, both of whom were out with injuries.

This left the team without much depth against a Georgetown team that, at the time, was still under consideration for a potential at-large bid to the Big Dance. They were also hovering at just 4-3 in conference play at the time and needed a big win.

Butler started extremely slowly in the contest and entered halftime trailing by 11 points on the road due to a poor defensive first 20 minutes. Coming out of the break, though, it was the Sean McDermott show. The Dawgs changed their pick-and-roll offense a bit as the locker-room adjustment and it paid major dividends with being able to find their 6-foot-6 senior sharpshooter for huge 3-pointers.

Within the first five minutes of the half, the Dawgs not only clawed their way back into the game but had taken the lead. This 18-3 run out of the break included 14 points from McDermott as he took command of the game with his catch-and-shoot trifectas, mainly from the corner.

The game then settled back into a back-and-forth affair for the remaining 15 minutes before McDermott broke a tie with 49 seconds left with a go-ahead 3-pointer that Georgetown was unable to match. The senior finished with 31 points and eight rebounds for the contest on 7-for-12 shooting from beyond the arc.