With both teams coming off lopsided losses Wednesday night, DePaul welcomes in Butler for an early Saturday Big East Conference battle in Chicago.
The Blue Demons (3-25, 0-17) lost their 16th in a row at the hands of Xavier, 91-58 in Cincinnati.
Elijah Fisher led the way with 14 for DePaul along with six rebounds. Jalen Terry scored 12 and dished out six assists.
Butler (16-13, 7-11) dropped its fifth straight game, falling 82-59 to St. John’s in Indianapolis.
Posh Alexander led the way with 15 points and seven rebounds. Pierre Brooks II added 13 points and Jalen Thomas scored six with four rebounds.
“We got to realize that we’re at the point in the season where there’s no secrets,” Butler coach Thad Matta said. “If you can’t defend, they’re gonna seek you out. I mean, our next game is in March for God’s sake. And we made mistakes tonight like it was November. We’ve got to get that corrected.”
Brooks leads the Bulldogs with 14.8 points per game this season. Alexander leads with 4.8 assists and 2.2 steals per contest while Thomas is grabbing just over six rebounds per game.
Chico Carter Jr., Fisher and Da’Sean Nelson each average just over 10 points per game for DePaul. Carter also leads with 3.5 assists while Nelson leads with 3.8 boards per game.
There was nothing new on either team’s injury report this week. Butler’s is clear and Caleb Murphy remains out for DePaul with a wrist injury.
Since 2014 this has been a one-sided series between these teams, with Butler winning 19 of the last 21 matchups, including the last eight.
Butler pulled out the win in the first matchup at home on Jan. 20, 74-60. Brooks scored 20 points and the Bulldogs got 17 each from Alexander and DJ Davis.
–Field Level Media
