The Christmas break has come and gone, and Villanova and Butler hope to right the ship on New Year’s Day when they face off in a Big East Conference matchup Wednesday in Indianapolis.
Villanova (8-5, 1-1) comes in off an 86-79 conference loss at Creighton on Dec. 21, allowing the Bluejays to shoot 56 percent from beyond the arc.
“I thought we got a lot of good stuff offensively,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said. “I don’t know if that’s the best recipe, trying to outscore teams and not getting stops.”
Butler (7-6, 0-2) enters on a five-game skid. The Bulldogs started conference play against the top two teams, falling at then-No. 9 Marquette 80-70 on Dec. 18 and losing 78-74 against then-No. 11 UConn on Dec. 21.
The Bulldogs outscored the Huskies 41-36 in the second half and rallied from down 16 to tie the game, but allowed UConn to hit 45.8 percent of its 3-point attempts.
“I did think we did a good job of getting ourselves back in the game and putting ourselves in position to win a basketball game,” Butler coach Thad Matta said.
Jahmyl Telfort leads Butler with 15.5 points and 3.4 assists per game. Andre Screen is solid down low, averaging 6.2 boards and 1.6 blocks per game.
Eric Dixon leads the Wildcats — and all of Division I — with 25.8 ppg. Wooga Poplar is averaging 13.2 points and 6.6 rebounds, and Jhamir Brickus averages 11.5 points and 5.6 assists.
Villanova is 17-7 against Butler. The series has been evenly split the last two seasons, with both teams winning at home each year.
Last year’s matchup in Indianapolis was a thriller in particular, with Butler winning an 88-81 double-overtime affair. Dixon scored 28 points while Telfort had 22.
In the conference, Butler ranks ninth in both points allowed per game (69.4) and in points per game (73.1). Villanova ranks sixth defensively (67.9) and offensively (79.1).
–Field Level Media
