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Tonight's matchup between Butler and Southern Illinois had everything you look for in a trademarked bracket buster. There was no such marking on tonight's game, those aren't until February, but the outcome may make it hard for Southern Illinois to find their way into the NCAA tournament as an at-large team. A.J. Graves nailed a three from just inside the half-court line as time expired to give the Bulldogs a 57-55 win. The loss drops SIU to 5-6 on the season and was incredibly frustrating. They complemented their defensive intensity with better than usual shooting, highlighted by Joshua Bone's best game of the year. Bone hit 7-of-10 from the floor, including five threes, and SIU shot a respectable 47.9% from the floor. That defensive intensity, which limited Butler to 15 field goals all night, had a downside, though. The Bulldogs went to the line 30 times and their 21 makes helped make up for their erratic shooting.
The fouls also kept Randal Falker on the bench for long stretches, another key factor in the loss. Falker had 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots but wasn't around long enough to tip the game his team's way.
For Butler, Mike Green led the way with 19 points and Matt Howard added 15. They also got three big threes from Pete Campbell, three games back from injury. Graves was terrible until his highlight-reel worthy winner at the end but he and the Bulldogs can feel very good about this win. Horizon play will be tough but it's hard to imagine that there will be a tournament without the Bulldogs unless they completely fall apart.
The same can't be said for SIU. They've got an uphill battle with Creighton and Wichita State looking good in the MVC of late. The MVC may get an at-large look but SIU will have to be lights out to assure themselves of being in position to get it. The good news is that they were good offensively for the second straight game, the bad news is they were lax about ball control and, of course, that they lost again.
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