Horizon League Showdown: Cleveland St at Butler

Cleveland St Vikings at Butler Bulldogs, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
Friday, January 7, 2011, 7:00 pm Eastern, TV: ESPNU
Opening Line: Butler -6
Current Line: Butler -6 1/2
Opening Total: 132
Current Total: 133
Money Line:Butler -275 / Cleveland St +235

Shelvin Mack and Butler take on Cleveland St in a must win Horizon League game at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. Butler is a 6 1/2 point favorite.

The Cleveland St Vikings are 15-1 on the season and 4-0 in the Horizon League. The only loss is at West Virginia last month 74-63. The Vikings have wins over Kent St, Akron, and South Florida on the season. Cleveland St travels to historic Hinkle Fieldhouse to take on the Butler Bulldogs. Butler is 10-5 overall and 2-1 in Horizon league play. They have losses to Louisville, Evansville, Duke, Xavier, and Milwaukee on the season. They had one 6 in a row until Monday’s 76-52 loss at Milwaukee. The six game winning streak includes victories over Stanford, Utah, Florida St, and Washington St. This is pretty much a must win for Butler as they will be 2 1/2 games out of the conference race with a loss. It is still early in the conference season but you don’t want to get in too big a hole early. Butler leads the overall series 27-7. They have won 4 0f the last 5 meetings straight up but have gone 2-3 ATS in the 5 games. Four of the 5 games have gone under the total. Butler has gone 7-1 ATS this season versus teams with winning records.

Cleveland St has been successful this season despite being without senior guard D’Aundray Brown. Brown has missed the entire season with a finger injury. He is listed as questionable against Butler but is expected to be back soon. He averaged 8.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.5 steals a game last year in over 32 minutes a game. The Vikings are led by senior guard Norris Cole. Cole averages 20.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 2.4 steals a game. Cole leads the team in scoring, assists, and steals. Junior guard Trevor Harmon averages 13.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 2.1 steals a game. Junior guard Jeremy Montgomery averages 11.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists a game. Junior forward Aaron Pogue leads the team in rebounding with 6.6 a game. Cleveland St is outscoring opponents 73-60 on the season. The Vikings are shooting 44.1% from the field and 35.8% from 3-point range. Cleveland St opponents are shooting 39.0% from the field. They shoot 71.0% from the free throw line. The Vikings average 35.2 rebounds a game and have a rebounding margin of -0.4. They average 12.1 assists a game and 11.4 turnovers a game. They force 16.8 turnovers a game on defense. The Vikings average 8.7 steals and 3 blocks a game on defense. The Vikings are very small with only one player over 6’9″ on the roster.

Butler has no significant injuries but has underachieved this season. The schedule has been brutal, granted but Butler seems to be missing talented guard/forward Gordon Hayward from their run last year to the national title game. Butler is undersized like Cleveland St, and only has one player over 6’9″. The Bulldogs are led by the tandem of forward Matt Howard and guard Shelvin Mack. One of the two lead Butler in every statistical category. Howard averages 17.1 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.3 steals a game. Mack averages 14.4 points, 4.8 points, 3.5 assists, and 1.2 steals a game. Butler is outscoring opponents 68-58 on the season. The Bulldogs are shooting 43.8% from the field and 35.2% from 3-point range. Butler holds opponents to 38.5% from the field. The Bulldogs make 72.4% from the free throw line. Butler averages 34.2 rebounds a game and have a rebounding margin of +3.3 a game. The Bulldogs average 13.0 assists and 12.5 turnovers a game. They force 13.2 turnovers a game on defense. Butler forces 3.2 blocks and 6 steals a game.

Butler had a 22 game conference winning streak snapped Monday at Milwaukee 76-52. Cleveland St won at Milwaukee earlier in the season 82-59. Neither of these teams rebound very well. Both play really good defense. Cleveland St is really adept at forcing turnovers. I think this game will be really close. Butler gets all the publicity and rightly so after such a magical run last year. However, the truth is Cleveland St might be the best team in the Horizon League. A victory at Hinkle would go a long way towards proving that.