Since joining the Big East, Butler has had strong performances in Washington, D.C., and will hope to continue this trend on Friday when they play Georgetown in a game both teams need to win.
Butler (9-12, 2-8) has matched its worst 10-game start in the Big East since the 2013-14 season. Even after pushing No. 19 UConn to overtime in a close 80-78 loss on Jan. 21, the Bulldogs are still winless on the road.
If there’s a chance for head coach Thad Matta to get his team back on track away from home, it’s in Georgetown.
Since returning to Butler, Matta has led the team to two solid wins in Washington. Last season, Butler won 90-66 after a dominant 80-51 victory in 2023.
Butler has a strong record of 8-3 at Georgetown and has won eight straight games at Georgetown’s main court, Capital One Arena, downtown. However, they did lose their only game at Georgetown’s on-campus arena in 2021.
On Tuesday, Butler lost to No. 9 Marquette 78-69 after letting a halftime lead slip. Jahmyl Telfort scored 24 points, but the Bulldogs’ shooting dropped from 57.1 percent in the first half to just 25.8 percent after the break.
“There comes a point where you’re struggling to score and especially when you’re playing a team like Marquette, it starts to weigh on your defense,” Matta said. “It starts to wear you down defensively. As a coach you don’t want that to happen.”
Georgetown knows well what it’s like to struggle offensively.
The Hoyas (13-8, 4-6) have lost six of their last seven games and scored their fewest points in a game since 2012-13 in Tuesday’s 66-41 loss to No. 15 St. John’s.
Coach Ed Cooley is searching for ways to improve his team’s offensive performance.
“It could be a lot of different things,” Cooley said after Georgetown was held to under 70 points for the ninth time in 10 conference games. “… 41 points in a high-major game. We scored 60-something points in our last game. I don’t know if we got to 70 since December in a Big East game. We need to look at our offense, our shot selection.”
Malik Mack was the only Hoya to reach double figures with 13 points but had six of Georgetown’s 16 turnovers. The Hoyas recorded a season-low six assists and shot just 24.6 percent from the field. Georgetown has shot under 50 percent in eight straight games, going 2-6 in that stretch.
Georgetown’s leading scorer, Thomas Sorber (14.5 ppg), earned his fifth Big East Freshman of the Week award on Monday. Butler is led by Telfort (16.2 ppg) and Pierre Brooks II (14.9).
