Butler Basketball: 3 Takeaways from exhibition win over Tiffin

Butler Basketball beat Tiffin 75-65 in exhibition action in the first 40 minutes under Thad Matta. Let’s take a look at the takeaways from Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Butler Basketball beat the Tiffin Dragons 75-65 in their first exhibition action of the season. Questions were answered and some were left lingering after the first 40 minutes of the Thad Matta era.

Let’s take a look at three takeaways from Hinkle Fieldhouse on Saturday night.

1. Pace, pace, pace

One of the biggest questions coming into this season for the Bulldogs was pace. How much faster was Butler going to play under Matta? The last three seasons under LaVall Jordan, this team ranked 431st, 326th, and 334th in tempo at KenPom. It didn’t take long for it to be clear that the Bulldogs were going to run this season.

The Bulldogs took 62 shots in last night’s game and tallied on nine fast-break points. Last season, Butler took more than 60 shots only a handful of times and took more than 62 only once – and one of those games came against Oklahoma in overtime. Most importantly, Butler’s best looks came in transition with Eric Hunter Jr. and company pushing the ball up the floor and finding players for easy buckets. There are question marks about the offense in the halfcourt – especially when they aren’t shooting it well – but Matta clearly put an emphasis on getting out in transition whenever they got a chance to.

2. Simas Lukosius has built on a strong end to last season

The headline of the first exhibition is Simas Lukosius’ continued improvement. We’ll get to Butler’s shooting in a second, but it wasn’t Lukosius who couldn’t find the bottom of the basket. The Lithuanian was 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the 3-point line. He was also perfect from the foul line. Throughout offseason work, the message was Lukosius was shooting the ball well and that has carried into the first games of the season.

The Bulldogs struggled in the first half from the field before shooting 57 percent as a team in the second frame and Lukosius was a big part of the improved efficiency. He played 15 of the possible 20 minutes – despite coming off the bench – and was the spark that rebuilt the Butler lead after Tiffin briefly took a one-point advantage early in the second half. Right before the under-12 timeout, Lukosius knocked down a three, finished around the rim, and found Manny Bates in transition to strengthen the lead to eight.

Everyone knows Chuck Harris is a playmaker for Butler and he can create his own shot. Through one exhibition game, Lukosius is poised to take another step forward in creating for himself and the offense. There is still a little ways to go and there are times he tries to do too much with the basketball, but the ball in the Lithuanian’s hands will be an offensive weapon for Butler this season

3. Last year’s shooting woes linger heading into 2022-23.

The hope was that Butler would come out and shoot the lights out from deep and put all the shooting questions to bed, but they didn’t. As mentioned previously, Lukosius was 3-of-5 from beyond the 3-point line, but the rest of the team was 3-of-16 combined. And if Eric Hunter Jr’s 2-of-5 is isolated the rest of the Bulldogs went 1-of-11 from deep. That’s not good enough and it makes Butler’s halfcourt offense look so difficult. Hopefully, Lukosius’ efficient night from 3-point land will not be a deviation from the norm since he was a sub-30 percent 3-point shooter a year ago, because if it was then the Bulldogs are going to have real issues once again this season.

Ali Ali didn’t play in this game due to a concussion and a broken nose and he should help space the floor as another 40 percent shooter last season at Akron, but without him the floor, especially in the halfcourt, is congested around the rim because opponents aren’t exactly scared by Butler’s 3-point shooting.

From the line, it wasn’t much better. As a team, Butler was just 11-of-22 from the charity stripe, another area in which they struggled last season. They were 278th in the nation as a team last season at 68.9 percent. It’s only one exhibition game, but going 6-of-21 from deep and just 50 percent from the free throw line leaves the biggest offensive efficiency question up in the air heading into the second of two exhibitions.

Last thing of note, Butler really needs transfers Ali Ali and Jalen Thomas on the court. Ali should be back on the court relatively soon once he recovers from a concussion, but it could be a long time, if ever, until Thomas is back on the floor. Those two players add serious frontcourt depth to Butler’s roster and it was clear on Saturday that they will need that depth. The frontcourt minutes from players not named Manny Bates were spotty at best.

Myles Wilmoth and DJ Hughes were a combined 2-of-8 from the field and Thad Matta went to a three-guard lineup of Hunter, Chuck Harris, and Myles Tate alongside Lukosius and Bates for large stretches in the second half. Simply, the Butler frontcourt is not good enough across the board without those two players and getting them back will be an important piece of Butler’s success this season.