NCAAB Game Preview - ULM at Butler

Sat Dec 28, 2019 4:00 PM EST

After a big win over in-state rival Purdue and a week off for the holidays, No. 12 Butler returns to the court for a less celebrated home game.

The Bulldogs (11-1) close out their nonconference schedule by hosting Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday afternoon.

Butler has momentum on its side following another big victory, this time overcoming an early seven-point deficit to pull out a 70-61 victory over the Boilermakers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis as part of the Crossroads Classic.

Butler shot 46.7 percent from the field and limited Purdue to 33.3 percent, but the Boilermakers were just the fourth team in crack 60 points against the Bulldogs. It was not a complete performance, but Butler coach LaVall Jordan liked his team's approach.

"We didn't get out to a great start," Jordan said. "I thought they came out really aggressive, especially on the backboards, and we had to respond coming out of the first media (timeout). These guys have done that pretty much all year, where you ask them to do it, and they grit their teeth and they respond. So that was something we talked about, and then they came out and we changed the mood of the game.

"We still haven't put together 40 minutes. We're still hungry and hunting for 40 minutes. ... Obviously, there's a lot of resistance when you go against good teams like Purdue."

The Bulldogs have won six games against power conference opponents, with four of them away from Hinkle Fieldhouse, along with a lone one-point loss at Baylor.

Butler, which was picked to finish eighth in the Big East Conference before the season, has beaten Missouri, Stanford, Mississippi and Purdue away from home, though only the matchup with Ole Miss was a true road game. The Bulldogs carry the nation's longest nonconference home winning streak at 57 games into Saturday's game against Louisiana-Monroe.

Sophomore forward Bryce Golden had a team-high 14 points against Purdue. He also played solid defense in limiting the Boilermakers' Trevion Williams to 5-for-14 shooting.

"A lot of credit to him for what's he's done with his body over the summer, his commitment to his teammates and training to be ready for moments like this," Jordan said of Golden.

Louisiana-Monroe (4-6) is coming off a three-point home loss to Arkansas State on Dec. 21 in Sun Belt Conference action, the Warhawks' fourth straight defeat. Tyree White scored a season-best 14 points, and Michael Ertel had 13 in the loss.

The losing streak stings even more considering the Warhawks have dropped those games by a combined 16 points. They fell 73-72 against Little Rock on Dec. 19 after squandering a five-point lead in the final 29 seconds, and then they lost the lead in the final five minutes against Arkansas State.

Louisiana-Monroe enters Saturday's game with an 0-3 record in away games.

"We had a little bit of a scoring drought again and all of a sudden, they become a shot-making team a little bit," Louisiana-Monroe coach Keith Richard said after the most recent defeat. "We'll keep working at it until we can win some of these close ones."

--Field Level Media