Andrew Smith injured, will miss two games

It's probably better now than later for Andrew Smith, and for Butler as a whole for that matter. Butler's center will be on the bench wearing street clothes during this week's Atlantic 10 conference games against Charlotte on Wednesday and at Fordham on Saturday.

As rough as Saturday's tough road win (59-56) was over George Washington, it was worse for Smith. The 6'11 senior center left the A-10 game at GW on Saturday when he took a shot to the abdomen when going for a loose ball. Smith is second in points (11.4 ppg) and rebounds (5.4 rpg) for the #10 Butler Bulldogs.

Starters Roosevelt Jones and Khyle Marshall will be counted on for scoring and rebounding, along with guys like Kameron Woods and Erik Fromm off Butler's bench.

Smith's presence will definitely be missed on the court, but Butler survived two and a half games without Rotnei Clarke when he was injured, including a thrilling victory over then-number 8 Gonzaga. His leadership will be utilized on the Bulldog bench, as he's also started 91 of the last 93 games for Butler and his experience goes back to playing the in the 2011 Final Four games vs. VCU and UConn. Smith has also played in back-to-back National Championship games in 2010 and 2011 versus Duke and Connecticut, respectively.

Head Coach Brad Stevens hopes to have Smith back in the lineup next Tuesday, February 19 at home against Duquesne.

The Bulldogs (20-4, 7-2) host Charlotte (17-6, 5-4) tonight at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for a 7 p.m. tip.

#25 Notre Dame bests #11 Louisville, 104-101 in 5 OTs

As if there wasn't enough excitement at the University of Notre Dame this week with ESPN's College Gameday coming to South Bend on Saturday, the Cardinals and Irish figured they would give the sellout crowd (9.149) at The Joyce Center at Purcell Pavilion their money's worth and much more! #11 Louisville and #25 Notre Dame put together quite the battle. Tying the game 16 times and their were 26 lead changes, it was the Irish in the 5th overtime who were able to outlast the Cardinals with a 104-101 win.

Notre Dame and Louisville have a pretty good history of taking their games to overtime when they meet up. Five of the last six and 8 of the last 13 in this series have been taken to extra periods.

It was a slow-go in the first few minutes, suprisingly, with the two Big East stalwarts combining for just 3-of-12 from the floor and Louisville with a slight 4-2 edge just four and a half minutes in.

Notre Dame held just a 27-24 halftime lead. It looked all too obvious that this would be a defensive basketball game that would end up a low scoring affair, despite the hyped up atmosphere.

Down 56-48 when Tom Knight committed his 5th personal foul, it was hard telling what would happen next. Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant took things into his own hands. In the final 0:45 of regulation, Grant drilled three 3-pointers and with 16 seconds left, made a layup and converted the free throw to finish off a 12-4 run, knotting the score at 60-60.

Louisville had the slight edge in the second half, outscoring the Irish 36-33, tying the game at 60-60 after two halves of play.

Playing five overtimes almost makes one forget what happened in the 40 minutes of regulation.

Jack Cooley's double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds seems like it was an after thought, considering that he fouled with 6:54 left in regulation. The Irish's other big presence down low, Tom Knight, fouled out with 0:51 seconds left in the second half. That meant they'd be left with limited depth heading into the overtime.

This was the kind of game where Notre Dame realized what kind of depth they could and should have every game. We should start seeing more minutes off the bench from freshman Zach Auguste and senior Garrick Sherman and the season continues on. Auguste saw 36 minutes of action and had 8 points and 3 rebounds before fouling out with 12 seconds left in the 5th OT. Sherman showed up like no one thought that he would. In 22 minutes, Garrick scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and grabbed 6 rebounds. The most mind-boggling thing about Sherman's performance is that he saw no action in regulation and turned out to be such a sparkplug for the Irish during the five overtimes.

Cooley and Knight have fouled out. Who's up next off the Irish bench? Why not bring in 6'11 big man Garrick Sherman. Sherman transferred from Michigan State before last season. Starting 29 of his 71 games for the Spartans, he brings leadership.

He didn't come into the contest until 1:57 left in the first overtime, staying on the bench in anticipation for the first three minutes. From then on, he was dialed in right away and didn't stop. Sherman was forced to come off the ND bench with Jerian Grant getting charged with his 5th foul.

After the first OT, it was 68-68. The second OT, 75-75. Through three OTs, 83-83. Following OT #4, it was 93-93. The scores were 8-8 in each of the first three overtimes and 10-10 in the fourth. It just seemed obvious that one of these two would find their way to pull away slightly in the fifth overtime.

The #25 Irish outlasted the #11 Cardinals 11-8 in the fifth overtime in an exhausting game, 104-101. It was the longest regular season game in Big East regular season history. Previously, Notre Dame defeated Georgetown in four OT's 11 years ago, also coming up victorious.

#11 Louisville (19-5, 7-4 Big East) was able to get three players scoring 21-plus points. Chris Behanan led all scorers with a game-high 30 points, shooting 13-of-20 and also grabbed 15 rebounds. Luke Hancock 22 points off the bench. Russ Smith had 21 points and 10 boards. Gorgui Dieng also had 17 points and 13 rebounds. Highly touted guard Peyton Siva was limited to 2 points by the Irish defense, fouling out in the fifth overtime.

#25 Notre Dame (19-5, 7-4 Big East) was led in scoring by Jerian Grant's team-high 19, including 12 in the final 45 tics of regulation to send the game to overtime. Right behind him was Garrick Sherman, who notched 17 points in just 22 minutes of action, only playing in the five overtime periods. Pat Connaughton had an outstanding night with 16 points, 14 rebounds and also dished out 7 assists. Eric Atkins played 60 minutes, scoring 14 points. Cameron Biescheid played 50 minutes off the ND bench, putting up 14 on 4-8 field goals and 4-4 at the free throw line. Jack Cooley did it quietly, but had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Zach Auguste gave Mike Brey 36 great minutes off the Irish bench, scoring 8 before fouling out with 12 seconds left in the OT #5.

ND shot 42% overall (32-77) and 7-25 from three. Only shooting decent from the charity stripe, the Irish were 33-49 (67%). Louisville was 33-81 (41%) from the floor and 5-25 from the three-point arc, while going 30-48 (63%) from the free throw line. The two tied at 54-54 in rebounds. ND turned the ball over 18 times to 14 for U of L.

#25 Notre Dame stays home on Wednesday, February 13 for a 7 p.m. tipoff against the DePaul Blue Demons (10-13, 1-9 Big East). #11 Louisville also gets to play at home, but on Thursday, February 14, as the St. John's Red Storm (15-9, 7-5 Big East) visits the Cardinals.

It was an unbelievable game for the ages that we'll be talking about for years to come. Only time will tell, but it's just a precursor to what we're going to see down the stretch of the season and on into March, where it all comes down to March Madness!

.No. 14 Butler blows lead, but holds off George Washington

In a conference like the Atlantic 10, a team should never take any size of a lead for granted. Sometimes, a 17-point lead isn't safe to sit back and relax on, when there's still 12 minutes left. That's exactly what happened to #14 Butler on Saturday afternoon at the soldout Charles E. Smith Center (4.488) in Washington, D.C. The Bulldogs were able to hold off the Colonials' late comeback and escape our nation's capitol with a 59-56 conference road victory.

Rotnei Clarke nailed a three to put Butler up 12-10 with 13:50 left in the first half and the Bulldogs were cruising and feeling good for the time being. Their lead swelled to 11 at one point (25-14) before holding onto a 31-22 halftime advantage.

Butler kept a double-digit for a majority of the second half, including their largest lead (48-31) with 12:02 left in the ball game.

With 6:01 on the clock, George Washington had cut the deficit to ten points at 53-43 and had comeback in mind. Starting with two Isaiah Armwood free throws helped bring it under ten (56-48) with 2:47 left.

Roosevelt Jones shoots pretty poor (59%) from the free throw line on the season and he continued that against GW. Jones was just 2-of-9 from the foul line and Butler shot just 62% (13-21) as a team, which didn't help their cause. Jones couldn't convert at the line when it mattered with 1:19 left and Lasan Kromah dropped in a layup, leaving the Colonials down just 57-54 and 52 ticks left.

Joe McDonald had scored five of the next seven points for the Colonials, including a pair of free throws that brought things back to Butler leading by just one (57-56) with 0:44 remaining.

After being fouled by Kromah, freshman Kellen Dunham sank two from the charity stripe to put Butler up by three, 59-56. George Washington had opportunities in the final 23 seconds, but two three-point attempts came up off the mark and BU escaped with a narrow three point win.

George Washington (11-11, 5-4 A-10) was able to get three into double-figures with Isaiah Armwood leading the Colonials and sharing game-high honors with 14 points, while also grabbing 11 rebounds for a double-double. Joe McDonald and Lasan Kromah both had 10.

The Butler Bulldogs (20-4, 7-2 A-10) also had a 14 point scorer in Rotnei Clarke. He also filled out the rest of his line of the stat sheet with 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Despite his sub par free throw shooting, Roosevelt Jones wound up with 12 and seven boards, while Kellen Dunham knocked down 10 points off the bench.

Butler notched its 20th victory of the season at GW on Saturday, joining 15 others with 20 wins thus far in 2012-13. Those include two teams, #1 Indiana (20-3) and #6 Gonzaga (23-2), that the Bulldogs have victories against. Saturday's big win at George Washington puts BU atop the Atlantic 10 standings, but sharing conference records with VCU and Saint Louis, all with 7-2 league totals.

The Dawgs head home to play the Charlotte 49ers (17-6, 5-4 A-10) on Wednesday, February 13 for a 7 p.m. tipoff at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The game can be seen on local television in the Indianapolis area on My-INDY-TV channel 23 and heard on the radio on Country 97.1 Hank-FM.

#14 Butler blasts Bonnies in second half

St. Bonaventure proved why the Atlantic 10 could get as many as 6 or 7 bids to the NCAA Tournament in March. The Bonnies will likely end up not being in that group that makes the "Big Dance," but as was seen Wednesday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, they won't go away quietly. Butler used some surges and great shooting to keep St. Bonaventure at a distance, running away eventually with a 77-58 win.

For the #14 Butler, it took seasoned veterans to guide the Bulldogs in the right direction and to another A-10 victory, moving them to 12-0 at home this season.

As per usual, it was Rotnei Clarke leading Butler in scoring with 17 points, but he also had handfuls of rebounds and assists both, while shooting 6-12 overall and 3-8 from outside-the-arc.

It was St. Bonaventure's first time playing Butler and more importantly, their first trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse. They weren't afraid at all. Taking a lead at 9-7, just four minutes in, the Bonnies wouldn't hold the lead for long. Butler retook the edge 20-13 with a 13-2 run that was aided by Chase Stigall (two 3's), Kellen Dunham (one three) and a couple baskets by Kameron Woods.

It was slim, but Butler slowly built its lead back up to nine at halftime, 39-30.

Not even a minute into the second, Khyle Marshall ignited the crowd at Hinkle with a slam dunk, giving Butler its first double-digit margin of the night at 41-30.

Jordan Gathers scored two to get the Bonnie deficit under 10 (41-32), but that wouldn't last long, as
Butler would keep it above ten the rest of the way. The Bulldogs pulled away, turning this into a route over St. Bonaventure, 77-58.

Demitrius Conger led all players with a game-high 18 points on 5-6 shooting and 7-8 from the free throw line. Chris Johnson and Marquise Simmons both chipped in 9 each for the Bonnies.

The loss drops St. Bonaventure to 10-11 overall and 3-5 in A-10 play. #14 Butler (19-4, 6-2), on the other hand, now sits atop a three-way tie for first place in the Atlantic 10 with VCU (18-5, 6-2) and Saint Louis (17-5, 6-2). Butler might want to think about winning out in the conference. They already own a 17-point loss at Saint Louis and won't play VCU until they visit the Rams on Saturday, March 2.

With Clarke having a team-high 17, there were plenty of others that picked up the rest of the points to spread the wealth for the Bulldogs. Andrew Smith had 13 and seven rebounds, a pair of assists and three steals. Chase Stigall seemed more than happy to contribute his 12 points, going 3-5 from three-point land, while also grabbing four boards and dishing out a couple of assists. Khyle Marshall kept accountable with 12 of his own (5-5 field goals), not to mention his thunderous one-handed dunk that was #3 on ESPN's SportsCenter Top 10 plays. Kellen Dunham 9 points and Roosevelt Jones, Woods, Erik Fromm and Alex Barlow all combined for the remaining Butler scoring.

#14 Butler continues Atlantic 10 play this Saturday, February 9 as they take a trip to Washington, D.C. to face the George Washington Colonials (11-10, 5-3 A-10). The game is set for a 2 p.m. tipoff in our nation's capitol and can be seen nationally on Comcast Sportsnet Chicago.

#25 Notre Dame outmaned by #9 Syracuse

After losing two Big East road games in a row to Villanova (75-71, OT) and Pittsburgh (65-55), #9 Syracuse wasn't about to drop a third consecutive. #25 Notre Dame was hoping to head to the Carrier Dome and keep the Orange's streak going, but it was a tough task. Jim Boeheim's squad was up to the Irish's challenge and showed no mercy in a 63-47 domination.

This game became a battle of the Grants. Jerian is a 6'5 junior starting guard for Notre Dame and his younger brother Jerami is a 6'8 freshman forward for Syracuse. The two didn't really guard each other much because they play two different positions on the floor. Jerian would end with 15 points and 5 assists (36 minutes) for the Irish, while Jerami had 14 points and 6 rebounds and played all 40 minutes for the Orange.

Syracuse started out on a mission and it became obvious that they weren't going to stop. The 'Cuse jetted out to a 10-0 lead and Notre Dame was forced to regroup and call a :30 timeout with 15:40 left in the first half. They still hadn't put points on the board 31 seconds later when the media timeout paused the action. It took until a minute later (14:09) until the Irish finally got themselves on the scoreboard with an Eric Atkins three. Atkins' trey ignited ND and they were off on an 11-0 run to take an 11-10 edge over the Orange.

The game was tied up a couple more times at 11 and 13 before Trevor Cooney knocked down a three of his own for a 16-13 lead that Syracuse wouldn't relinquish the rest of the game to the Irish.

The Orange were just too lengthy and outright big compared to the big men down low for Notre Dame. Jack Cooley, Tom Knight and Pat Connaughton were forced to play even bigger than they normally do. Cooley (11), Knight (3) and Atkins (5) combined for 19 of the Irish's 28 rebounds as a team, but that was nothing compared to Syracuse's starting five that grabbed 32 boards between them.

Syracuse would extend its lead in the second half, but the 16-point final score was the second time that the Orange would lead by as much. Notre Dame kept within striking distance, but something always happened that kept them from coming all the way back. It wasn't until two C.J. Fair free throws with 6:47 left that gave the Orange a ten-point lead again (45-35) that kept Notre Dame's deficit above 10 and out of reach. Syracuse held on for a dominating 63-47 Big East win over the visiting Irish.

The Irish are figuring out that they need to use what's left of their bench in the absence of Scott Martin. They're going to have to get more playing time out of Garrick Sherman, along with freshmen Zach Auguste and Austin Burgett. It's a lot to replace the scoring (7.9 ppg.) and three-point shooting (46%) of Martin, but he also averaged 6 rebounds per game.

#25 Notre Dame (18-5, 6-4 Big East) has a tough matchup on Saturday as they'll host #11 Louisville (18-4, 6-3 Big East) on national television. ESPN's College Gameday will be in South Bend for the day, with tipoff at 9 p.m.

#9 Butler staves off Rhode Island late

The #9 Butler Bulldogs got a balanced effort offensively on Saturday, as they held off a pesky Rhode Island squad that had upset in mind, almost getting their way, losing to Butler 75-68.

Heading into Saturday, February 2nd's matchup with fellow Atlantic 10 foe Rhode Island, it didn't look like it would be that close of a game, on paper that is. Prior to their first trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the Rams were just 6-13 and struggling to find their team identity in A-10 play. Rhode Island only has one signature win to its credit thus far in the 2012-13 season. Two weeks ago, the Rams got a huge road victory at Saint Louis (82-80 in OT), a team that beat these same Butler Bulldogs by 17 (75-58) on Thursday.

Butler found itself playing from behind for a majority of the first half and it wasn't the easiest of tasks to dig out of this hole they dug vs. URI. Rotnei Clarke knocked down a key three with 4:51 left in the first to tie it up at 28-28. BU's next opportunity down, Andrew Smith sank a pair of free throws to give Butler its first lead at 30-28. The Rams' Xavier Munford knotted things back up at 30-30 with two of his own free tosses. Andre Malone made a jump shot with 1:31 left before the half to give the feisty visitors a 32-30 edge after 20 minutes of play.

Roosevelt Jones nabbed Butler's first bucket of the second half to even the score again at 32-32. After that, Rotnei Clarke was fouled as he made a three-pointer. Clarke followed that with a free throw for a four-point play and a 36-32 lead, which they wouldn't give back to Rhode Island.

The Bulldogs were able to keep the Rams at a good enough distance to hold them off for the win, but their lead never got bigger than 13 points just a few times down the stretch.

URI made one more push to test the Bulldogs in the final four minutes. Down 67-56 with 4:14 on the scoreboard clock, the Rams had a 12-8 run to end the game, but it wasn't enough as #9 Butler held on for the 75-68 win, improving to 11-0 at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the season.

Rhode Island (6-14, 1-6 A-10) was led in the scoring column by Nikola Malesevic with a team-high 18, followed by both Mike Powell and Xavier Munford with 14 each. The Rams shot just 40% (20-50) and 4-11 from three (36%), but it was their free throw shooting that really kept them within striking distance throughout, sinking 24-of-28 (86%) from the charity stripe.

#9 Butler (18-4, 5-2 A-10) also shot extremely well from the free throw line, making 24-of-27 (89%), which was one of the bigger factors that helped stave off the Rams' late push.

Rotnei Clarke led all scorers with a game-high 23 points on 8-13 shooting (5-8 on 3's). Roosevelt Jones netted 18 with 6 rebounds and four assists, not to mention drilling 8-for-8 on his free throws. Khyle Marshall finally got back out of the offensive shell that he was in by scoring 13 for the Bulldogs.

BU gets to stay home and host the St. Bonaventure Bonnies (10-10, 3-4 A-10), who earned a 10th victory on Saturday with a home win over Duquesne (68-60) for its third win in their last four games. The Bonnies and Bulldogs will meet up on Wednesday, February 6 at 7 p.m. and can be seen locally in Indianapolis on My-INDY-TV 23.

Saint Louis defense dominates #9 Butler

The crowd at Chafeitz Arena in St. Louis was white clad as their intent was to "white out" Butler on Thursday, January 31. The host Billikens did that and much more as they caught the #9 Bulldogs off guard with a dominating 75-58 home win.

Saint Louis had four pesky guards that became a thorn in the side of Butler senior guard Rotnei Clarke all night long. Clarke still managed to score a team-high 17 points, but was forced into committing six of Butler's 23 turnovers.

The Bulldogs started the game out just fine, leading 10-5, and before they knew it Jordair Jett had tied things up at 10-10. A Jake Barnett layup gave the Billikens a 12-10 edge that they would keep and build on for the rest of the night.

The Billikens ended the first half on a 23-13 run that was led by Jett (11) and Rob Loe (7) in that span to take a 34-23 advantage at halftime.

Things went from bad to worse in the second half for Butler. SLU jetted out to an 11-4 run in the first four minutes for a 45-27 distance, aided by Mike McCall, Jr. and Dwayne Evans combining for 10 of those 11.

From that point on, in quick fashion, Saint Louis extended their lead to double-digits and that's where it stayed the rest of the way. They shot 55% in the second half, going 16-of-29. They found every hole and crease in the Butler defense, taking the visiting Bulldogs further and further out of the game.

The lead grew to as large as 18 points before the final margin of 17 at 75-58.
Saint Louis had won 11 of 13 before this dominating win over #9 Butler. The Bulldogs had an even better stretch, winning 14 of 15 before bowing out on the road Thursday night in Saint Louis.

Butler shot just 43% (22-51 overall) and 36% (5-14) from three-point range. The Billikens were able to shoot 50 % (30-60) from the floor.

Saint Louis, on the other hand, fed off the largest crowd in Chafeitz Arena's history (10,612). Their defense was dialed in, to say the least. Four different Butler Bulldogs committed four or more turnovers (23 total), 18 coming from BU starters. Of those 23 giveaways, 14 came from Billiken steals, completely throwing Butler's overall game plan out the window.

The victorious Billikens were led in scoring off the bench by Jordair Jett, with a game-high 19 on 8-for-12 from the field. Dwayne Evans (15) and Rob Loe (12) also joined Jett in double-figures.

Rotnei Clarke was Butler's top scorer with 17 point on 5-of-12 shooting (3-7 from three) and center Andrew Smith also added 12 points.