Final
Wis.-Milwaukee-Butler Preview
Mar 6, 2010 - 4:55 AM By MATT BROWN STATS EditorMilwaukee (19-13) at Butler (26-4), 8:00 p.m. EDT
Easily the class of the Horizon League during the regular season, Butler won't have to leave its home court to reassert its dominance in the conference tournament.
The 12th-ranked Bulldogs seek to remain unbeaten at home and in conference play Saturday when they face Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the Horizon League semifinals at Hinkle Fieldhouse, which is hosting the tournament for the third straight year.
Butler (26-4) steamrolled through its conference schedule, going 18-0 with the last six of those victories coming by double-digit margins. The Bulldogs are the only Division I team this season still unbeaten in conference play, and the first in the Horizon to run the table since Wisconsin-Green Bay in 1995-96. They've won 20 straight regular-season conference games overall.
Adding to the air of invincibility, Butler went 13-0 at Hinkle Fieldhouse, finishing the regular season unbeaten at home for the first time since 2002-03. The Bulldogs are 42-3 there under coach Brad Stevens.
On top of all that, their 18-game overall winning streak is both a school record and the longest active run in the nation.
"It's definitely something special," said senior forward Willie Veasley, who had a career-high 20 points with six rebounds as Butler wrapped up its regular season by winning 74-69 at Valparaiso on Feb. 26.
The Bulldogs should benefit from the eight-day layoff, as Veasley's effort picked up a short-handed team. Leading scorer and conference player of the year Gordon Hayward (15.8 points per game) sat out to rest a bad back. Starting forward Matt Howard played despite a stomach ailment and finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.
"Just an unbelievable effort by a group of guys that have great resolve," Stevens said.
Hayward's season-high 25 points came in a 73-66 victory at Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Jan. 31. Butler also beat the Panthers 80-67 at home Jan. 2, when sophomore guard Shelvin Mack scored a career-high 25.
Those wins improved the Bulldogs to 7-1 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee since an 87-71 loss in the conference championship game on March 7, 2006.
For all its regular-season success, Butler is seeking some postseason redemption after getting upset 57-54 by Cleveland State in last year's title game. The Bulldogs won't have to worry about a rematch, as Wisconsin-Milwaukee (20-13) ousted the fifth-seeded Vikings 82-75 in a Friday night quarterfinal matchup.
The Panthers have won 20 games for the first time since the 2005-06 team that beat Butler for the conference title in coach Rob Jeter's first season.
Jeter's current club appears to be playing its best ball at the right time, as Friday's victory was its seventh in the last eight games. Wisconsin-Milwaukee showed great balance on offense as Anthony Hill and Ja'Rob McCallum scored 14 points apiece to lead seven Panthers in double figures.
The Panthers shot 55.3 percent from the field overall and went 8 of 14 from 3-point range.
The winner of this contest will face either No. 2 seed Wright State or seventh-seeded Detroit in the championship game Tuesday night.
- HORIZON TOURNAMENT
AT INDIANAPOLIS, IN
NCAA BB WISC MILWAUKEE 59
BUTLER (12) 68 FINAL
Mar 6 10:18 PM - 49
roots - 89
rootsRUWTbot Added 19 roots (Close Finish, Upset)
Wisconsin-Milwaukee 49, Butler(12) 52 2nd - 5:21Mar 6 9:58 PM - HORIZON TOURNAMENT
AT INDIANAPOLIS, IN
NCAA BB HALFTIME 1ST 2ND TOTAL
--- --- -----
MILWAUKEE 29 29
BUTLER (12) 28 28 HALFTIME
HIGH SCORERS AT HALFTIME
MILWAUKEE - JAMES EAYRS 10, ANTHONY HILL 7,
LONNIE BOGA 5
BUTLER - GORDON HAYWARD 9, RONALD NORED 6, TWO
PLAYERS WITH 5
Mar 6 9:05 PM
Related News
- Blue Jays square off against the Pirates with series tied 1-1 4:02a
- Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers meet in game 4 of series 4:02a
- Angels aim to break 4-game skid, play the Mariners 4:01a
- Dodgers and Rockies meet, winner claims 3-game series 4:01a
- Astros and Twins meet to decide series winner 4:01a
- Royals come into matchup with the Padres on losing streak 4:01a
- Schuemann leads Athletics against the Braves after 4-hit outing 4:01a
- Seiya Suzuki makes costly error for Chicago Cubs and hits tying grand slam against Reds 2:49a
- Aaron Jones hits 10 sixes as US beats Canada by 7 wickets to open T20 World Cup 2:11a
- Ionescu leads New York against Indiana after 24-point game 2:08a
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers get back to winning with a 4-1 victory over the Rockies 1:49a
- Burton, Aschenbeck lead No. 3 national seed Texas A&M over Texas 4-2 in 11 innings 1:45a