• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Detroit-Butler Preview

Feb 3, 2010 - 10:46 PM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Detroit (14-8) at Butler (18-4), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Butler had a tough time breaking back into the Top 25. Its bid for a fourth straight regular-season Horizon League title, though, has been relatively easy so far.

The closest the 23rd-ranked Bulldogs have been to losing in conference play came against the team they face Thursday night, taking on Detroit to open a three-game homestand.

Butler (18-4, 11-0) was 11th in the preseason poll, but dropped out for five weeks before returning Monday. It took 10 straight wins for the Bulldogs to regain a spot in the Top 25.

All of those victories were against Horizon League opponents. Butler is off its best start in conference play.

The Bulldogs have a comfortable lead over Detroit (14-8, 7-4) and Wright State, which are tied for second place. Their next three games come in a five-day span but they're all at Hinkle Fieldhouse, where Butler is 8-0 after going 15-2 last season.

The Bulldogs ended a stretch of four straight road games with a 73-66 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sunday. They're outscoring opponents by an average of 14.6 points in league play.

Still, coach Brad Stevens insists Butler will not let its performance slip over the next month.

"Coasting is not in our vocabulary," Stevens said.

His team certainly won't look past the Titans. When these teams met Jan. 10, Shelvin Mack scored the go-ahead basket with under a minute remaining in overtime and Butler survived a 3-point attempt by Detroit's Xavier Keeling at the buzzer to win 64-62.

Plus, both meetings last season were decided by five points or less. The Bulldogs, however, have won 10 straight at home versus the Titans and seven in a row overall against them. Butler leads the series 40-27.

Gordon Hayward led the Bulldogs with 17 points in the last meeting. The sophomore forward scored 25 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Hayward is averaging 16.1 points and 7.8 rebounds. He's the only player who ranks in the league's top five in both categories.

Mack leads Butler in scoring during Horizon League play, averaging 15.5 points.

The sophomore may be matched up at times with Detroit guard Chase Simon, who's averaging 17.2 points in conference games. He has earned two of the last three Horizon League player of the week honors, averaging 24.2 points and 7.5 rebounds over his last six contests.

Simon had 20 points and 10 rebounds as Detroit beat Illinois-Chicago 76-73 on Saturday. It was the second straight victory for the Titans, who doubled their win total from all of last season.

"It feels good to get some momentum, winning back-to-back games," coach Ray McCallum said. "It should give us some confidence."

McCallum, in his first year with Detroit, has placed an emphasis on defense. Against league opponents, the Titans rank first in field-goal percentage defense (38.7) and blocked shots per game (4.6).

Detroit held Butler to 41.5 percent shooting in this season's first matchup.

The Titans, though, have dropped 15 straight against ranked teams, averaging 48.1 points and shooting 37.0 percent.