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Loyola of Chicago-Butler Preview

Feb 8, 2010 - 6:30 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Loyola (IL) (13-10) at Butler (20-4), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Butler has suffered six home losses over the last five seasons. Two of them have come against Loyola of Chicago.

The No. 18 Bulldogs look to stretch their win streak to 13 and clinch a share of the Horizon League title when they host the Ramblers on Monday night.

Butler (20-4, 13-0) has won 41 of its last 43 regular-season league home games. Loyola (13-10, 4-9) is the only visiting team to earn victories at Hinkle Fieldhouse in that span, winning 75-71 on Feb. 22, 2007, and 71-67 last Feb. 15.

"We won't have any problem getting ready for this one," coach Brad Stevens told Butler's official Web site.

Although the Ramblers are one of the worst teams in the Horizon League, they provided the Bulldogs with one of their toughest tests this season in a 48-47 home loss Jan. 21. Butler was held to its lowest point total, shot a season-low 15.0 percent from 3-point range and was outrebounded 42-29.

Willie Veasley's free throw with 34 seconds remaining finished the scoring. Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack each scored 12 points to lead Butler.

Loyola will try to do a better job of taking care of the ball in the rematch. The Ramblers committed 17 turnovers Jan. 21 and rank next-to-last in the Horizon League with 14.1 per game.

The Bulldogs improved to 10-0 at home with a 74-62 victory over Wright State on Saturday. Veasley made all nine shots for a career-high 19 points as Butler shot a season-high 67.5 percent.

"We had a lot of high-percentage shots, wide-open shots as well as layups," Veasley said. "That's just credit to the coaches and them picking the plays and picking what will help us best."

Butler, which shot 46.3 percent in the two victories just before facing Wright State, fell just short of the school record of 69.7 set against Illinois State in December 1993.

"I'm a big believer in the law of averages, and we shot enough bricks to build houses the last two games," Stevens said. "We were just fortunate tonight that more fell. We got pretty good looks and these guys did a good job of finishing with authority at the rim."

The Bulldogs' longest win streak was 15 games from Jan. 20-March 7, 2000.

Loyola fell for the fifth time in six games Saturday, 59-56 at home to Cleveland State. The Ramblers led 49-40 with 9 minutes left.

"Half court-wise, we just couldn't get stops," coach Jim Whitesell said. "We had our chances. We had plenty of chances to win the game over and over again."

Ben Averkamp and Terrance Hill each scored 12 points to lead Loyola. Marcus Thomas, an Indianapolis native, made his first start of the season and scored four points after totaling 30 in his previous two games.