The deck seemed to be stacked heavily against the Butler Bulldogs as they faced the #1 ranked Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Critics, fans and the media were already chalking this up as a victory for the highly-touted Hoosiers, despite it being a game on a neutral court and just a few miles from Butler’s campus.
Butler captivated the sold out (19,192) home of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers and WNBA’s Indiana Fever for 45 minutes of play and the place completely erupted in the closing seconds of overtime.
Sophomore walk-on guard Alex Barlow played the unlikely hero for the Bulldogs, tossing up a tear-drop that bounced off the rim three times before falling through the net with 2.6 left to lift Butler (8-2) over #1 ranked Indiana (9-1), 88-86 in overtime.
Everyone showed up and played a significant role for Butler and rose to the occasion, to say the least. Because he fouled out toward the end of regulation, it almost went unnoticed that sophomore guard Roosevelt Jones played one whale of a ball game. Jones filled out his part of the box score with 16 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots.
Rotnei Clarke was at it again with his three-point prowess. The senior guard was 5-for-11 from outside the three-point arc with a game-high 19 points and also netted five of Butler’s 12 overtime points. He was the only player on either team that didn’t leave the floor, playing all 45 minutes.
Center Andrew Smith did his best to keep the Hoosiers’ center Cody Zeller from taking over the game with his normally prolific play in the paint. Smith limited Zeller to 4-for-9 on his field goals, but the 7’0 sophomore still managed to get to the charity stripe and make 10-of-14, finishing with 18 points. The Butler senior post player had a decent game for himself with 12 points and grabbing nine boards.
It was an atmosphere that compares to an NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen game and the fans wouldn’t have had it any other way.
The Bulldogs play much better against teams that they aren’t supposed to beat. They showed that during their two consecutive runs to the National Championship game in 2010 and 2011.
Keeping Indiana honest throughout the first half, Butler trailed just 37-33 at halftime.
The lead changed three times in the first 20 minutes and the Bulldogs got itself within that four point deficit with an Erik Fromm trey with just four seconds remaining. They brought themselves even closer with a Khyle Marshall bucket (37-35) just into the second half.
Anything that IU gave to Butler, the Dawgs had something they countered back with and just never went away and kept fighting.
It was complete unselfishness on the part of Butler and that’s just how Brad Stevens likes it.
With 5:50 left in the second half, freshman Kellen Dunham canned a three-pointer and Butler regained the lead 61-59. Pushing Indiana to their limits, Butler sagged back a little, which let the Hoosiers back into the game. Smith dropped in two of his 12 with 2:22 left and upped the lead to 71-64. Confidence got high and that’s when IU took off on a 12-5 run to tie things up at 76-76 to force overtime.
The script couldn’t have been written any better than the full tilt affair that it was and then all had to be decided with overtime. It’s another of the many reasons why basketball is such a beloved sport here in the state of Indiana.
Butler’s backcourt shined in the extra period with Clarke and Barlow combining for nine of the Bulldogs’ 12 overtime points. Cody Zeller was counted upon to lead his Hoosiers and that’s what he did in OT, scoring six of IU’s 10.
Senior guard Jordan Hulls got Indiana back on top 78-76 with a jumper 20 seconds into overtime. Clarke countered, tying it at 78 all. Junior guard Will Sheehey ignited the Hoosier faithful with a steal and dunked for an 80-78 edge.
The game was tied up twice more and Butler grabbed one more lead before Cody Zeller evened it up at 86-86 with just 19 tics left.
The last person on the floor for Butler that would be expected to take the last second shot was Alex Barlow. He has recently been called upon to become a starter and his defense and clutch scoring. Getting the ball with time winding down, Barlow made a spin move through the lane and finger-rolled the ball up and over the rim. The ball bounced off the right side of the rim, off the backboard and two more times off the rim before falling down through the next, giving Butler the 88-86 win in overtime. Jordan Hulls’ desperation three try was off the mark and Butler stole America’s heart again, beating #1 Indiana.
Victor Oladipo joined Zeller with a team-high 18, followed by 13 from Sheehey, 12 by freshman Indianapolis native Kevin Ferrell and Christian Watford added 10 points.
Along with the great games from Clarke, Smith and Jones, Butler also got 11 from Khyle Marshall and Erik Fromm gave BU 10 off the bench. Shooting 11-for-24 (46%) from three-point land and outrebounding Indiana 40-38 were just a couple factors that helped the Bulldogs pull off the upset.
Indiana (9-1) will face Mount St. Mary’s on Wednesday night at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, while Butler (8-2) matches up with the Evansville Purple Aces (6-4) on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
No comments:
Post a Comment