Game Recap: Butler Bounce's Back In Win Over Western Michigan

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INDIANAPOLIS — In need of a win, not just for their early season, but also their own morale, the Butler Bulldogs responded with maturity, poise, and a hot hand from behind the arc as they came away with an 85-65 win over Western Michigan inside Hinkle Fieldhouse on Monday.

The issue heading into the game had been turnovers. They had committed 35 of them in their first two games and were a shocking contributor to Austin Peay’s victory over the Dawgs last Friday.

The Bulldogs committed just 11 turnovers Monday against the Broncos, still not great, but a vast improvement all things considered.

“I’m extremely proud of how our guys responded in this game after a tough home loss early in the season,” said Butler assistant coach Maurice Joseph. “We had some excellent performance from some guys who we challenged over the last few days.”

Even with the Dawgs taking care of the basketball, the game is made up of a lot more than that as many of you reading certainly know. Like shooting, for instance. There was a lot to be had of that from both teams in the opening stanza of this match-up.

Butler started off by missing their first three shots but quickly recovered hitting their next three. In fact, they would hit four three-point shots in a row between Patrick McCaffery, Finley Bizjack, Pierre Brooks, and Jahmyl Telfort. Augusto Cassia, in his first career start, delivered in a big way throughout as well.

“It meant a lot to me (to start),” Cassia said. “Been working a long time to get to the point. Glad I could help lead my team today.”

It would be a precursor of how the night would proceed for a team starved for decent shooting out of their previous game.

However, the shot-making was contagious to the opponent as well with Western Michigan keeping with the Dawgs shot-for-shot, especially in the mid-range. JaVaughn Hannahs, in particular, hit each of his first four shots from the field and helped keep the Broncos neck-and-neck with Butler midway through the opening half 16-16.

Both teams were either hot together or cold together as the latter portion of the first half was marred by shooting droughts and off-kilter offense. All the while for every shot Butler mustered, so top did Western Michigan. By halftime, it was a 39-37 advantage for the Bulldogs, with the difference being 2nd-chance points. Western Michigan outscored Butler in that regard 10-to-0.

Though Butler was playing much improved from Friday, they were still struggling to break free of the stingy Broncos. Having enough of the close margin was Cassia who began the second half with an emphatic dunk to set the tone for the half. He finished the night with 16 points, with 10 of those points coming by way of a dunk. He also had four rebounds, three blocks, and a steal.

“I’m a guard first, but I can play the five too,” Cassia said. “I’m just out there trying to help however I can. When I have the opportunity, I have to go out there and play my best.”

The dunk opened the scoring floodgates for the Butler offense who after giving up a quick bucket to WMU, the Dawgs commenced on a 14-0 run courtesy of some stellar ball movement and shooting from Finley Bizjack. He either facilitated or accounted for the bulk of the scoring run capped off with a second 3-point shot of the night. Patrick McCaffery helped in that regard as well hitting two 3’s throughout.

The Dawgs opened up a 16-point lead and appeared to be ready to cruise to the end of the game. But, the turnovers returned midway through the half. The Bulldogs, at one point, turned over five times in two minutes. A timely timeout by head coach Thad Matta came with 11:29 to play as the Bulldogs regrouped.

“It was something we harped on a lot in practice,” Joseph said. “They were lackadaisical turnovers and so we tightened the screws. We bounced back in a lot of areas and have to continue to build.”

Refocused heading into the final ten minutes, Butler got dialed back in from behind the arc, only letting WMU get back to as close as 57-52. Brooks and McCaffery kept pouring it building the lead to the point it was out of reach for the Broncos.

Pierre Brooks led the way scoring with 20 points. McCaffery finished with 15 points and Bizjack had 10 points.

Butler shot the ball a sensational 47% for the game, and 56% from the field as a whole. The Dawgs were still out-rebounded on the offensive glass 16-to-2 which led to many second-chance points for Western Michigan, but that put aside, the Bulldogs may have shown that the loss to Austin Peay may have very well been a fluke.

Only time will tell as Butler will host Southern Methodist inside Hinkle on Friday. It’s an SMU team that made waves in the NIT a season ago before being bounced by Indiana State.

Game Recap: Butler Brings Heat From Deep In Bounce Back Win Over Western Michigan  was originally published on ronewibc.staging.go.ione.nyc