Butler is content letting everybody else talk about the impressive
numbers. Players and coaches will just keep focusing on winning
games.
Right now, the two styles are working perfectly.
Matt Howard scored 17 points and Ronald Nored added a
career-high 16 points Wednesday night, leading the No. 18 Bulldogs
to a 73-55 victory over Illinois-Chicago and a school-record 16th
consecutive win.
"It means we've been focused during the whole streak,"
sophomore forward Gordon Hayward said after his third straight
double-double. "You know, it's nice to have the numbers, but we
don't focus on the past. We're always looking forward."
Next up: Siena on Saturday.
But the Bulldogs are finally playing like the team people
expected when the season started.
Butler (24-4, 17-0 Horizon League) has now matched Murray
State for the nation's longest winning streak and broken the school
record of 15 straight victories initially set in 1999-2000. It's
the first team in Horizon League history to win 17 conference games
in a season. A win at Valparaiso next week would not only give the
Bulldogs 12 road wins this season, but also the first perfect
league mark since Wisconsin-Green Bay went 16-0 in 1995-96.
Want more?
Well, the Bulldogs have already clinched their fourth
straight regular-season conference crown and home-court advantage
in the Horizon League tourney.
Wednesday's win even moved coach Brad Stevens into a tie for
No. 3 among coaches with the most wins in their first three
seasons. Stevens, North Carolina's Bill Guthridge and North
Carolina State's Everett Case have all won 80 games. Another win
would tie Stevens with Nevada's Mark Fox and Gonzaga's Mark Few for
No. 1.
But the Bulldogs aren't paying attention to those things.
"It's our job to come in every day and get better, whether
we're playing UIC or Siena," Nored said.
And nobody is playing better than Butler, which limited the
Flames (6-20, 2-14) to 31.4 percent shooting from the field -- a
season-best for the Bulldogs.
Illinois-Chicago was led by Robo Kreps with 15 points and
Jeremy Buttell with 10. Nobody else reached double figures and the
Flames lost for the 12th time in 13 games, falling to 0-14 on the
road this season.
Even the possibility of looking past a team that has only one
win since New Year's Day and an awful start couldn't derail the
Bulldogs.
"Obviously, it wasn't the most beautiful thing in the world,"
Stevens said. "But I'm happy we won."
On the floor, it was a complete mismatch.
The Flames opened the game in a 2/3 zone, confounding the
Bulldogs. Butler started 6 of 21 from the field and trailed 15-14
with 8:54 left in the first half.
Butler's shooters didn't languish league.
Nored took advantage of the big openings by repeatedly
driving to the basket. He and Willie Veasley, who finished with 11
points, combined for all of Butler's points in a 9-0 run that
turned the game and gave the Bulldogs a 23-15 lead.
After that, Illinois-Chicago never really challenged.
"I thought we gave a lot of effort tonight," coach Jimmy
Collins said. "But when you're trying to match up with guys that
play that well together ..."
It's almost impossible.
The Bulldogs extended their 32-25 halftime lead to double
digits early in the second half, then used a 6-0 run to take a
15-point lead before closing it out with a 13-0 spurt. That gave
Butler a 69-43 lead with 3:39 to go.
Hayward had 11 points and 11 rebounds, his third straight
double-double. Howard, the reigning conference player of the year,
made all 11 of his free-throw attempts and grabbed five rebounds.
And Nored had four rebounds and four assists to go with his
career-best scoring night.
"It (the streak) is meaningful, but it's not something that
we've talked about," Stevens said. "Maybe we'll sit and enjoy it in
April or May, but not now -- especially with the team we have
coming in here Saturday."
