Indiana Basketball vs Butler Bulldogs

The Indiana basketball team will face off against the Butler Bulldogs on Saturday. How will the Hoosiers perform?

After their third straight one possession game, another tough matchup for this Indiana Hoosiers team awaits this weekend. The newly ranked Indiana Hoosiers will travel to Indianapolis to face Butler on Saturday afternoon. The Hoosiers are riding a hard fought three game winning streak but extending that win streak, however, will not be an easy task. Though we are Indiana basketball.

Butler is coming off a win against Northern Illinois in which they shot 53% from beyond the arc, making 17 three pointers in route to their 27 point victory. Playing under another aggressive defensive mindset will have to be a major point of emphasis for Archie’s team, but that seems to be the norm nowadays.

Butler’s two guards will have to be the focal point of the defense if Indiana plans to win this game. Senior Paul Jorgensen and Junior Kamar Baldwin lead Butler’s backcourt and will control a majority  of the possessions during Saturday’s game.

Also, look out for Sean McDermott, a Junior 3pt specialist, who will most certainly look to get his shot going throughout the game. If Indiana can limit Butler’s opportunities on the perimeter, they will most certainly put themselves in a good position to grab another marquee non-conference win.

But as is usually the case, Indiana will need to worry more about getting their offense going than their defense. As Archie is turning this team into a defensive juggernaut, the offense will once again need to show up in a big way for this game.

Establishing a presence in the paint and creating high percentage opportunities will be the focal point. For an Indiana team that is currently converting 51.4% of their shots, good for 6th in the country, getting more high percentage shots in the paint against a soft Butler interior is extremely important. If the Hoosiers can establish their dominance down low, open looks from the outside will arise. Look for Indiana to get the ball inside early and often.

Juwan Morgan consistently getting the ball down low could allow him to have a monster game in Indianapolis. He is an obvious matchup problem for this Butler defense, as he is against most teams the Indiana Hoosiers play.

However, the outlook for this game will almost certainly turn out to be a dog fight. Staying focused on this matchup will be important to allow the Hoosiers to finish this tough five game stretch with a 4-1 record. An obvious opportunity awaits this Hoosier team if they can win this game. Potentially winning the next two games against softer opponents and entering the full Big Ten portion of their schedule riding a six game winning streak is a real possibility.

Staying focused and getting the ball to Morgan and harassing Butler on the perimeter will lead the newly ranked Hoosiers in a good spot to win this game. Butler is a tough team and accomplishing this is much easier said than done.

Prediction: IU 72 Butler 63