Butler and Creighton will try to end slumps on Tuesday when the Bulldogs travel to Omaha, Neb., to face the Blue Jays.
Big East play seems to be taking its toll as each team continues to struggle with offensive consistency. Butler (11-12, 4-8 Big East) has followed up back-to-back wins over Creighton and Georgetown with one-basket losses to Xavier and St. John’s. Creighton (13-8, 5-5), has lost three of its past four games, though the one win was a 59-55 victory against No. 17 Connecticut.
St. John’s shot 84 percent (21-for-25) from the free throw line to edge Butler 75-72 on Saturday. The Red Storm were 16-for-20 in the second half and scored their last nine points of the game from the foul line.
Butler attempted just five foul shots in the game, making four.
Bo Hodges led Butler with 22 points and seven rebounds. Bryce Nze scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds.
Butler coach LaVall Jordan was pleased with the offensive effort but said his team’s defense struggled. “We couldn’t keep them off the foul line,” Jordan said. “In the second half, we put them on the foul line too much.”
Creighton’s offensive struggles continued against Seton Hall, this time in the first half. The Blue Jays fell behind 11-0 and trailed 37-16 at intermission on their way to a 74-55 loss.
“Better team from the jump,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said of Seton Hall. “Their physicality threw us out of our rhythm offensively.”
The Blue Jays did show some life in the second half, outscoring the Pirates 39-37. However, they were unable to dig themselves out of the first-half hole. “I thought we showed more fight and guts in the second half,” McDermott said. “But we spotted them far too many points.”
Butler used an 18-2 second-half run to defeat the Blue Jays 72-55 on Jan. 26 in Indianapolis. Creighton was 2-for-22 on 3-pointers and shot 35.6 percent from the field. Butler scored 30 points from beyond the arc and had a 40-30 rebounding edge.
Creighton (.307) and Butler (.288) rank at the bottom of the Big East in 3-point field goal percentage.
–Field Level Media