Indiana vs Butler Picks and Odds

• The Indiana Hoosiers face the Butler Bulldogs at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, at 11:30 AM ET on Saturday, Dec. 19th
• This is only Butlers’ third game of the season after the program dealt with COVID-19 concerns
• See the odds, spread, analysis, and best bet, below

Saturday morning, the Indiana Hoosiers (4-2) square off with the Butler Bulldogs (1-1) in the Crossroads Classic at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, at 11:30 AM ET.

Butler will be looking to get back into the win column after getting punished by seventh ranked Villanova 85-66 last time out. On the other side, the Hoosiers come in confident after boat racing North Alabama 87-52 the last time they took the floor.

The Hoosiers lead the all-time series 22-7 after taking down the last matchup between the schools 71-68 in 2018. Indiana is favored by 7.5 points in this matchup.

Indiana Hoosiers vs Butler Bulldogs Odds

Odds as of December 15th at FanDuel.

Indiana Is Back On Track

Indiana got back into the win column with a thorough 87-52 beating of South Alabama on Sunday. The Hoosiers held the Lions to 33% from the floor and a dismal 17% from beyond the arc on 23 shots. Armaan Franklin scored a career-best 19 points including a career-high five three-pointers.

"I give @unkle44artty a lot of credit. He continues to evolve as a player for us."https://t.co/Ehhaw5dgsX

— Indiana Basketball (@IndianaMBB) December 15, 2020

Indiana jumped out to a 40-24 first half lead and were never really challenged in the game. They out rebounded North Alabama 44-30 and managed to block seven shots. Standout forward Trayce Jackson-Davis was only needed for 28 minutes but was able to post a 15 point, seven rebound, two assist, three block and one steal stat line.

Butler is Rusty

Having more than 20 days between games is hard enough but Butler had to travel to Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania to play Villanova last time out to make matters worse. Still, the Bulldogs were able to hang around in the first half and were only down six points with nine minutes left in the game. Villanova closed the game on a 26-10 run which made the game look less competitive.

Dawgs Fall to No. 7 Villanova on Wednesday Night in Philadelphia

–> https://t.co/sam3xtUCQ1

— Butler Basketball (@ButlerMBB) December 17, 2020

Jair Bolden lead the way for the Bulldogs in scoring with 18 points on 5/13 shooting performance which included 4-7 from three-point land. Aaron Thompson, who leads Butler in scoring on the season, chipped in with 14 points in the losing effort. As a team, the Bulldogs were impressive from behind the arc hitting 7 of 15 shot attempts.

Best Betting Angle

Indiana is playing elite level defense at the moment which could cause problems for Butler. According to KenPom, the Hoosiers are tenth in the nation in defensive efficiency. They are holding opponents to a 36.9% shooting percentage which is good for 26th in the country.

Another thing Indiana has going for them is strength of schedule. The Hoosiers have played 43rd toughest in the country and they have only lost two games. The losses came at the hands of Texas and Florida State who are both ranked. Texas is currently fourth best in defensive efficiency while Florida State is 15th. Both schools were able to slow down Indiana’s offense which lead to wins.

While Butler has seemingly played a tough schedule, it’s fair to question if their 48 ranking in the strength of schedule metric holds water. After all, they have only played two games this season and one was against Villanova. In their other game, they barely beat a subpar Western Michigan team 66-62.

Butler may not have the defense to contain Indiana as we saw Villanova run away from them at the end of the last game en route to an 85 point outing. That could be problematic because the Bulldogs could be without Bryce Golden as well as Aaron Thompson. Thompson is an integral part of the Bulldogs’ offense that will already have a hard time against the Indiana defense. If he plays, they will still have a hard time covering and if he is out, they could get blown out.

Pick: Indiana -7.5 (-118)