March Madness – (11) Texas vs. (6) Butler
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:40 am ESTPublished:
(11) Texas Longhorns (-2.5, 122 o/u) vs. (6) Butler Bulldogs
On Thursday, the No. 6 Butler Bulldogs (22-10, 12-6 Big East) will meet the No. 11 Texas Longhorns (20-13, 8-10 Big 12) in second round March Madness action (2:45 PM Eastern at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh).
The Bulldogs are the higher seed, but it’s the traditional heavyweight that’s favored over the upstart mid-major; the Longhorns are 2.5-point favorites at the moment, and most pundits see Texas’ interior size and overall athleticism being too much for the Bulldogs to handle.
That said, the Bulldogs had a much better regular season, going 12-6 in the tough Big East and beating tourney teams St. John’s (twice), Xavier, and Providence.
Texas, meanwhile, went just 8-10 in the Big 12 and really struggled against other squads that reached March Madness, losing twice to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Kansas, and dropping three games to Iowa State.
The Longhorns gave the Cyclones a run for their money in the Big 12 tourney, though, falling 69-67 in the quarterfinals. Coach Rick Barnes took some positives from the loss. “We just didn’t finish it,” said Barnes. “I’m proud of my guys.”
Senior forward Jonathan Holmes was stellar for the Longhorns in the loss, scoring 15 points (on 50-percent shooting) and adding nine boards. Barnes will look to he and center Cameron Ridley to dominate the post against the small Bulldogs.
Butler, meanwhile, lost to Xavier 67-61 in overtime in the Big East quarterfinals in its last outing, despite Matt Stainbrook, Dee Davis, and Myles Davis scoring 13 points apiece.
Xavier coach Chris Mack praised the Bulldogs’ scrappiness after the game. “It seems like every time we play Butler here over the last five or six years; they’re just gritty games,” said Mack after the thrilling OT win.
The loss to the Musketeers followed on the heels of arguably Butler’s best win of the season, a 68-64 road win over Providence. The Bulldogs, who shoot under 70-percent from the stripe on the season, hit 20/20 from the line in the win.
Thursday’s game will be the first-ever meeting between these two teams. Looking at the trends, the Longhorns are 0-6 ATS in their last six NCAA Tournament games, but 8-1 ATS in their last nine neutral site games as a favorite.
The Bulldogs are 7-1-1 ATS in their last nine tournament games as an underdog and 42-17-1 ATS in their last 60 neutral site games.
On the season, Butler went 17-13 ATS, while Texas was a similar 17-13-1.
(Photo credit:Â Randall Chancellor [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
