First Thoughts: Butler 69, La Salle 58
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Correspondent
Let’s take a quick look at how the Butler Bulldogs played big in a 69-58 win over the La Salle Explorers on Friday afternoon at the Barclays Center.
WHY IT HAPPENED: Rotnei Clarke spearheaded a balanced attack with 14 points, leading the Bulldogs to an impressive win in the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament. Andrew Smith added 11 points and eight rebounds as Butler was a step ahead most of the day. Kameron Woods had another solid game for the Bulldogs, scoring 10 points and pulling down nine rebounds. La Salle superstar Ramon Galloway played, though it was hard to prove. Galloway scored just four points while committing four turnovers. It’s perhaps no accident that Galloway’s two worst games were against Butler. The Bulldogs forced Galloway into bad shots. La Salle coach Dr. John Giannini seemed frustrated with the way his team (21-9) played while undermanned. Center Steve Zack was sidelined with a sprained left foot.
WHAT WE LEARNED: Going small and speedy against Butler didn’t work. The Explorers started 6-foot-8 sophomore Jerrell Wright at center, and with 14 points and 11 rebounds, he did fine. Wright was actually more productive than Smith. Where the Bulldogs made inroads was at power forward. Khyle Marshall took care of business before halftime, Woods took over after that, and the Explorers, who started 6-5 wing D.J. Peterson at the 4, never found an answer. Sure, La Salle ran its sets well and shot 50 percent (13-of-26) in the first half. But Butler scored 16 of its first 21 points in the paint, dumping the ball over the top to Marshall, who terrorized the defense with 11 points in the first 13:11 of the half. Sixth man extraordinaire Tyrone Garland, a transfer from Virginia Tech who averages 13 points per game, had 11 in the opening 20 minutes, including La Salle’s final nine points before intermission, but was a non-factor after that. And Butler was able to contain La Salle’s spread offense by switching defenders. The Bulldogs only worried about individual matchups when they involved Smith, who took a man and stuck with him. Otherwise, Butler’s players remained in a general space and picked up a guy in their area in man-to-man. A quasi-zone, this scheme also involved sending a second defender at drivers.
Without a doubt, La Salle has a good defense. In particular, they don’t foul. Butler only took 10 free throws Friday — making all 10 — as opposed to their season average of 21 attempts per game. But the Bulldogs compensated by shooting a sizzling 49 percent from the field, and winning on a bad day from behind the arc (3-of-15, 20 percent). Butler’s bigs did a great job of sealing their defender to clear space for a guard to attack the rim. Clarke and Kellen Dunham took advantage of this play-call on multiple occasions. Butler (26-7) has won four straight and is two wins from a conference championship.
KEY NUMBERs: Rebounds: Butler won 41-23. Second-chance points: Bulldogs 17, La Salle five.
TURNING POINT: After the Explorers took their first lead at 32-31, Butler answered with a 14-6 run that spanned the end of the first half and the first five minutes of the second. La Salle was playing catch-up from that point forward. Five Bulldogs scored in the spurt, during which La Salle shot 2 for 8.
NEXT: The fifth-seeded Bulldogs take on No. 1 Saint Louis tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. Butler lost both matchups against the Billikens in the regular season, including a blowout defeat at Chaifetz Arena marred by a season-high 23 turnovers.
