Butler at Ball State (-2) - 4:00pm Pacific

Cardinals are fresh off a big upset win over Xavier in their regular season opener and have a lot of momentum coming into this game.  Ball State returns four starters from last year but the big news so far this season has been the play of newcomers.  Most notably freshman point guard Peyton Stovall who logged a team high 32 minutes in his first college game.  He scored eight points, dished seven assists, had two steals, and only two turnovers.  New Mexico State transfer Dennis Trammel played 31 minutes and scored 11 points and touted JC transfer Terrence Chapman scored 12 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.  Key holdovers include senior forward Robert Owens (team high 23 points off the bench vs XU), senior forward Cameran Echols (8 points, 10 rebounds vs XU), and junior Matt McCollum (three year starter).  All six mentioned above are capable of scoring in double figures.  All had at least six points in opening game.  Head coach Tim Buckley prefers an uptempo style and he is pleased to finally have enough quality depth to run it.   

 

Butler comes in to the game 2-0 against the spread but should be 0-2 so I am not hesitant to play against them again.  In road game at Northern Iowa, they got 3 three pointers from reserve center Jamie Smalligan in a two minute span in the second half to pull within striking range.  Late in the game they then hit two more three pointers in the final nine seconds that were sandwiched around a UNI missed front end of a one-and-one free throw.  The last game winning shot was a well defended fade away three pointer at the buzzer for a 2 point win.  They followed that up with a heartbreaking one point overtime loss to Michigan at Conseco Fieldhouse.  Michigan did not play well and Butler had every opportunity to win in the second half but could not put the ball in the bucket consistently despite several open looks.  UNI outrebounded Butler 39-to-22.  Michigan outrebounded Butler 35-to-26.  Butler go to player Mike Monserez is shooting just 9 for 25 in last two games.  Butler as a team shot 35.7% at UNI and 38.5% vs Michigan. 

 

Ball State has upgraded their athleticism and is a much better defensive team than last year.  They held Xavier to under 40% shooting despite XU getting several second chance points.  XU outrebounded Ball State 35-to-31 and had 17 offensive rebounds, but that will be less of an issue against similarly sized and rebound challenged Butler.  Ball State lost badly 71-45 at Butler last reason.  It was their first game following trip to Anchorage, Alaska tournament and receiving the news that first team all-conference performer Theron Smith was lost for the season to injury.  If that was not bad enough, they lost senior Rob Robbins for the season in the first half vs Butler.  It is no secret that players want this win vs long time instate rival. 

 

Ball State  1 UNIT