Butler beats back Bucknell in tourney opener
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Correspondent
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Butler took one haymaker.
When it delivered one of its own, Bucknell was sent home, and the Bulldogs had configured the beginnings of another March run.
Sixth-seeded Butler defeated No. 11 seed Bucknell 68-56 on Thursday afternoon on the strength of a 22-5 second-half run that immediately followed a 21-5 spurt by the Bison. Senior Rotnei Clarke scored 17 points in his NCAA tournament debut and Andrew Smith added 14 points to go along with a career-high 16 rebounds.
Butler coach Brad Stevens was amazed by the successive drastic swings in momentum.
I told them in the locker room, ˜There’s a lot of teams in this tournament that would not be able to withstand a 16-point swing and then have a (17-point) swing of their own, Stevens said.
Butler (27-8) improved to 6-1 in its past seven NCAA tournament openers and will face Marquette here in the round of 32 on Saturday. The school famous for back-to-back national title game appearances in 2010 and 2011 spent 11 weeks in the AP Top 25 this season and is now up to its winning ways in March.
I’m extremely blessed to play in this tournament, Clarke said. I’m just excited to be here. That’s why I came to Butler.
The Arkansas transfer blinked early in his first stab at the Big Dance, scoring just four points and missing all four 3-point tries in the first half. After halftime, Clarke performed up to his usual standards, making the 3 that all but clinched the game with 1:42 remaining.
Bucknell (28-6) shot 37 percent from the field, scored 14 points in the first half, and saw star center Mike Muscala finish with a season-low nine points on 4-for-17 shooting. The Bison lost for the first time in more than a month and just the second time in their last 11 games.
These kinds of days are really, really hard when you’re at the end of a season, coach Dave Paulsen said. I’ve never had a more unselfish, resilient group of guys.
Perhaps Joe Willman’s finest collegiate game was his last. The power forward tormented Butler’s defense time and again with long jump shots, ending up with a career-high 20 points, 10 of which came in Bucknell’s big second-half run that gave the Bison a short-lived 37-31 lead.
That’s when Butler punched back, using two free throws by Kellen Dunham, a 3-pointer by Smith and a 3 by Clarke after a Khyle Marshall steal to go back in front. The Bulldogs had led almost the entire way before seizing a 10-point lead early in the second half. Bucknell erased that edge, but the Bulldogs’ combination of physical defense, rebounding and interior scoring proved too much.
Our defensive focus was at as high a level as it’s been for a long time, Stevens said.
Butler shot just 36 percent from the field, but Smith set a school record for rebounds in an NCAA tournament game, and the Bulldogs used strong performances from Roosevelt Jones (14 points) and Alex Barlow (career-best 10 points, five rebounds, four steals) to improve to 19-11 all-time in the sport’s biggest event.
Both guys were focused, Stevens said. Barlow was dialed into a different level than pretty much any guy we had on our team the last couple of days with his study.
Starting for the first time in six games, Barlow held sharpshooting Bucknell guard Bryson Johnson to just nine points on 2-for-8 shooting.
I like it, Barlow said. Not everyone is good at scoring. I am not worried about scoring a lot of points. I just bring a lot of energy to the team.”
Time and again, Barlow read passing lanes and swiped Bucknell passes. He stepped in front of Muscala to pick off a delivery from Cameron Ayers and raced to the other end for a layup that gave Butler a 19-12 lead late in the first half.
Butler led 21-14 at the break, holding the Bison to 7-of-27 from the field (25.9 percent). Muscala scored just two points and missed 9 of his first 10 shots. Smith leaned into Muscala’s body and denied passing lanes, while the undersized Marshall opened the game on Bucknell’s 6-foot-11 Patriot League player of the year and periodically returned to that trying duty throughout the day.
I can’t really take a whole lot of credit for it, Smith said. Whenever he got the ball, all five guys were watching him. We understood one person can’t stop him. He’s too good for that.
Muscala, who entered averaging 19 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, struggled to explain the disappointing finale to a splendid four-year career.
Shots didn’t drop, he said. He (Smith) was very physical. I thought I got some pretty decent looks.
By the time Butler’s counter flurry was over, the Bulldogs led 53-42 with 2:38 to play. Six different players scored in the burst, during which Bucknell missed six straight shots and went 2-for-10 with two turnovers and two missed free throws over a stretch of nearly eight minutes.
It took us a while to get comfortable offensively, Stevens said. It may not have been aesthetic the entire game, but our defense was really good. I’m really proud of the way they stuck together.
