Fans of both teams will have the NCAA Tournament bubble on their minds when Butler visits Seton Hall on Saturday night in Newark, N.J.
Butler (16-11, 7-9 Big East) and Seton Hall (17-9, 10-5) have been in and out of bracket projections for weeks. They carry very similar NET rankings — Butler is No. 62 and Seton Hall is No. 65 as of Friday — but they have gone in different directions this month.
The Bulldogs upset then-No. 13 Creighton 99-98 on the road on Feb. 2, but they’ve dropped four of five since. On Tuesday, they fell 72-62 at Villanova after keeping it close all game.
“We don’t have to play great, we have to play good,” Butler coach Thad Matta said postgame. “Defensively, in the first half, we weren’t that good. Second half, we were good, but we weren’t offensively good. … We’ve got to put it together.”
The Pirates have won four of five games to settle into the top four of the Big East, but their metrics likely suggest they need a few more wins to feel more comfortable about their at-large chances. Not that coach Shaheen Holloway is thinking ahead.
“We don’t care about that,” Holloway said when asked about the tournament after Seton Hall beat St. John’s on Sunday. “We just care about game for game.”
The Pirates haven’t played since they dug out of a 19-point first-half hole to stun St. John’s 68-62 on the road. The week off came at a good time for Dre Davis, who was a game-time decision against the Red Storm with an ankle injury. He came off the bench and provided 15 points and seven rebounds in 35 minutes.
“I’m a knucklehead. I played him (35) minutes, but we needed this game,” Holloway said. “We need every game.”
Davis scored 14 points while Kadary Richmond put up 24 points, 12 rebounds and five assists when Seton Hall beat Butler 78-72 in their first meeting Jan. 13 in Indianapolis.
Posh Alexander led four Bulldogs in double figures with 17 points that day. They have had four different players pace them in scoring in the past four games, most recently Jahmyl Telfort with 19 against Villanova.
Butler ranks fourth in the Big East at 45.6 percent shooting from the floor, while Seton Hall is third in the league defensively, allowing opponents to shoot 41.3 percent.
–Field Level Media