Men's Basketball Preview at Barton (February 15th)

#19 Butler at #RV Barton

Wednesday, February 15th | 7:30 PM Tipoff

Barton Gymnasium | Great Bend, Kansas

Watch Live: butlergrizzlies.com/watchlive (PPV$)

Dennis Higgins Radio Broadcast: audacy.com/kfh or 97.5 FM/1240 AM KFH

Live Stats: tinyurl.com/ms98e7y2

Notes Compiled by Wyatt Ebersole

Series Since 2011: Barton leads 10-8 | Last Meeting: Dec. 12th, 2022 in El Dorado (Butler won 56-49) 

Opening notes:

• The 19th ranked Butler Grizzlies travel to Great Bend, Kansas for a clash with the Cougars of Barton who are receiving votes in the national poll
• It's a battle of third place Butler and fifth place Barton in the conference standings
• The Grizzlies are looking for the season sweep of the Cougars for the third straight year as Butler won the first contest of the year 56-49 in El Dorado on December 12th
• Both teams have won eight of their last ten games
• Butler is 2-5 at Barton since 2011 and 1-0 in the Kyle Fisher era (since 2019)
• Interestingly, the Grizzlies are 7-2 against the top six teams in the conference and 7-3 against the bottom six of the conference
• Last time at Barton: The Grizzlies won by the narrowest of margins, beating the Barton Cougars 60-59 on their home floor on December 13th, 2021. The Cougs missed a pair of free throws with two seconds left that gave the Grizzlies the win
• The Grizzlies have the #2 scoring defense in the conference and the Cougars are #3
• Butler is 6-2 this season playing against teams that appear in the national poll the week the teams meet
• Butler is 27-21 in road games in the Kyle Fisher era
• Barton is 21-9 at home under their current head coach Jeremy Coombs
• Butler is 13-4 in games played at night this season and 4-2 in road night games 

Last action for the Grizzlies 

Saturday February 11th | Cloud 60, Butler 67 OT

• The Butler Men survived an upset attempt from the Cloud T-Birds this past Saturday winning 67-60 in overtime
• The Grizzlies 39.7% shooting percentage from the field in the game was their worst shooting percentage in a game in two months
• The Grizzlies also had their worst night from the three-point line in two months shooting 26.7% in the game
• The Butler Men made 17 free throws in the game, their fourth straight game making at least 17 shots from the charity stripe
• This was the Grizzlies first game to go in to overtime this year and the first since January 24th, 2021, when they beat Cowley 70-59
• Isaiah Williams led the Grizzlies in scoring, dropping 18 points on 6/13 shooting and going 2/5 from behind the arc 

Scouting the Cougars

• The Cougars are in their second season under the helm of former Neosho County head coach Jeremy Coombs
• Three of the five typical Cougar starters played for Barton last year and they are led by Cougar Downing who is a two-time All-KJCCC selection
• Downing is the Cougars leading scorer on the year averaging 16.7 points per game
• Downing has taken a step back from last season in scoring per game as he averaged 19.4 points per game last year
• The Cougars' second leading scorer is the dynamic, stretch-five big man Joseph Locandro who averages 15.0 points per game and leads the Cougs in rebounds per game, pulling in 8.3 per game

Series Notes (Since 2011)

• Barton leads the series 10-8 since 2011, but Butler has won the last four matchups and have not lost since January 4th, 2020, when Barton won 97-84 at the Power Plant in El Dorado
• Two of the last three matchups have been decided by less than 10 points
• Barton's 22-point, 89-67 victory on January 5th, 2019, is the largest margin of victory by either team in the series since 2011
• The largest win for the Grizzlies in the series is by 21-points, 85-64 last year on February 12th, 2022 

NO LEAD IS SAFE WHEN THE GRIZZLIES ARE BEHIND

• The Butler Men have overcome four double-digit, second half deficits this season 

A Cougar in a cage

• Cougar Downing over the last two years averages 18.2 points per game on 41.1% shooting and 35.1% shooting from three, but against the Grizzlies in his Cougar career, he averages just 13.3 points per game on 34.1% shooting from the field, and shoots 18.8% from three

A Grizzly W would…

• Improve them to 21-6 overall and 15-6 in conference play
• Be their second straight win
• Move them to 9-4 on the road this season
• Be their fifth straight win against Barton
• Move them to potentially one game away from clinching a first-round bye in the upcoming Region VI Playoffs
• Keep the Grizzlies in the race for the conference title with Dodge City and Coffeyville

A Grizzly L would…

• Drop them to 20-7 overall and 14-7 in conference play
• Be their second loss in their last three games
• Be their third road loss in their last four road games
• Hurt the Grizzlies chances of earning a first-round playoff bye
• Virtually end the Grizzlies chances of winning the conference title

Looking ahead

The Grizzlies get this Saturday off and then will host the Cowley Tigers at the Power Plant in El Dorado on Wednesday night for a big matchup