No. 5 Butler looks to knock off No. 18 Seton Hall
No. 18 Seton Hall (12-4, 4-0) vs. No. 5 Butler (15-1, 3-0)
Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis; Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: No. 18 Seton Hall looks to give No. 5 Butler its 13th straight loss to ranked opponents. Butler's last win vs a ranked opponent came against the then-No. 1 Villanova Wildcats 101-93 on Dec. 30, 2017. Seton Hall has moved up to No. 18 in the latest AP rankings following wins over Xavier and Marquette last week.
VETERAN PRESENCE: Both of these teams have relied heavily on their seniors this year. Kamar Baldwin, Bryce Nze and Sean McDermott have combined to account for 53 percent of Butler's scoring this season. For Seton Hall, Myles Powell, Quincy McKnight and Romaro Gill have collectively accounted for 48 percent of the team's total scoring, including 53 percent of all Pirates points over their last five.
FACILITATING THE OFFENSE: Powell has been directly responsible for 44 percent of all Seton Hall field goals over the last three games. The senior guard has 24 field goals and 12 assists in those games.
STREAK STATS: Butler has won its last nine home games, scoring an average of 72.3 points while giving up 51.4.
ACCOUNTING FOR ASSISTS: The Pirates have recently created buckets via assists more often than the Bulldogs. Butler has 27 assists on 74 field goals (36.5 percent) across its previous three outings while Seton Hall has assists on 50 of 81 field goals (61.7 percent) during its past three games.
TOUGH DEFENSE: Butler has held opposing teams to 54.4 points per game this season, the fourth-lowest figure among all Division I teams.
