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Xavier v. Butler: Stats, Stream, Keys to the Game

It's a KenPom top 100 matchup as the Bulldogs come to the Cintas Center.

Butler fan favorite, JP Macura
Butler fan favorite, JP Macura
Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

Xavier Musketeers (14-1)

Per Game Table
Player MP FG% 3P% FT% TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Trevon Bluiett 32.9 .467 .415 .886 5.6 3.0 0.7 0.4 2.1 1.8 19.7
J.P. Macura 28.0 .492 .370 .878 4.2 3.0 1.8 0.6 1.6 2.0 12.9
Tyrique Jones 17.9 .695 .574 5.7 0.6 0.6 0.8 0.8 2.7 9.4
Kaiser Gates 26.7 .433 .440 .792 5.6 1.2 0.5 0.3 0.4 2.5 9.3
Kerem Kanter 15.0 .536 .385 .825 5.1 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.8 1.5 8.9
Quentin Goodin 27.7 .433 .056 .875 2.5 5.9 0.9 0.2 2.3 2.2 8.0
Sean O'Mara 15.3 .710 .906 3.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.9 1.7 7.8
Naji Marshall 17.9 .603 .455 .692 3.3 1.5 0.4 0.3 1.5 1.1 7.6
Paul Scruggs 16.5 .415 .118 .667 1.9 1.7 0.5 0.1 1.7 1.4 4.1
Elias Harden 9.1 .273 .200 1.000 0.3 0.7 0.2 0.0 0.6 0.7 0.9
Leighton Schrand 1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.8 0.0 0.0
Matt Singleton 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0
Nick Vanderpohl 1.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 1/2/2018.

Butler Bulldogs (12-3)
Per Game Table
Player MP FG% 3P% FT% TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Kelan Martin 35.0 .438 .310 .860 7.1 1.9 1.2 0.5 2.0 1.6 18.9
Kamar Baldwin 33.2 .424 .300 .719 4.8 3.0 2.0 0.7 2.4 2.4 14.5
Paul Jorgensen 28.7 .474 .425 .857 3.5 2.4 1.1 0.1 0.7 1.2 12.3
Tyler Wideman 20.8 .690 .000 .735 5.1 0.5 0.7 0.6 1.6 2.6 10.1
Sean McDermott 24.4 .500 .425 .769 4.0 1.1 0.5 0.3 1.2 1.8 8.3
Nate Fowler 16.6 .603 .333 .833 2.9 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.8 2.1 5.7
Aaron Thompson 25.7 .446 .000 .524 1.4 3.8 1.0 0.5 2.3 3.0 5.3
Henry Baddley 13.7 .606 .667 .933 1.6 0.7 0.3 0.3 0.7 1.7 4.1
Joey Brunk 6.9 .526 .500 2.9 0.3 0.0 0.1 0.5 0.8 1.9
Jerald Gillens-Butler 7.1 .273 .333 .833 0.7 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.9 1.9
Christian David 7.2 .412 .125 .500 0.9 0.7 0.3 0.0 0.5 1.1 1.7
Campbell Donovan 2.4 .000 .000 1.000 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4
Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 1/2/2018.

Fox Sports Stream

Three keys

- Take it seriously. Xavier has come out in a slumber against some lesser opponents lately. The difference in talent between X and DePaul allowed them to dig out of a 16-point second-half hole, but they don't have that trump card against Butler. X played from the word go against Marquette; they need to bring that same intensity tonight.

- Make Kamar Baldwin a volume scorer. Kelan Martin is realistically going to get his most nights anyway, but Butler's second-leading scorer can be hassled a bit. Baldwin has shot just 17-55/4-15/5-6 (.309/.267/.833) in Butler's three losses. He's only shooting 30% from deep this year; if Xavier has to surrender shots tonight, it might be best to do so to him.

- Use the zone. The ball sticks on Butler's offense; they're 10th in the Big East and 273rd in the nation in assist rate. A team with good ball movement and outside shooting is going to be able to pick apart the zone to get clean looks. Butler has neither of those. Expect a healthy dose of non-man defense from Xavier tonight.