Butler closed out the Battle 4 Atlantis with their top performance on the young season, defeating Florida 61-54 to move to 5-1 on the year. Butler's elite defensive effort carried the team while the dynamic duo of Paul Jorgensen and Kamar Baldwin provided enough offense to propel Butler past the Gators. Baldwin led all scorers with 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists while Jorgensen scored 16 points and grabbed a game high 7 rebounds. 1,000 Points for Baldwin Baldwin's 19 points on 7-17 shooting pushed him over 1,000 points for his Butler career. He's going to challenge Chad Tucker's all time school scoring record by the time his career is up. Baldwin really struggled early in the game and his shot wasn't there for most of the night (1-6 from 3 point range). When crunch time came around though, Baldwin once again made the plays a super star needs to make. Baldwin had several buckets that Florida head coach Mike White described as "backbreaking". He had a stretch midway through the 2nd half where he scored 9 of Butler's 11 points as the Bulldogs went on their run to build up a lead they would never relinquish. Lock Down Defense This is the defense we thought we would see from the Bulldogs this season. Butler turned in their best defensive performance of the season, and kicked it up into high gear when they had to get stops down the stretch. Florida scored only 9 points in the final 11:14 of the game, allowing Butler to grab the second half lead and then hang on for dear life towards the end. Butler didn't hit a shot from the field the final 4:35 of the game, but the defense held up under the pressure. Every time it felt like Florida revved up their intensity to make a final push the Bulldog defense refused to bend. Butler held the Gators to only 35% shooting for the game and gave them absolutely nothing easy for most of the night. If Butler can bring this type of defense night in and night out they will contend for a Big East title. Big Second Half From Jorgensen It's a common saying that shooters need a short memory. Paul Jorgensen has no problems there. Jorgensen had a forgettable first half, shooting 1-5 from the floor for 3 points, including blowing a wide open fast break layup opportunity. He came out firing in the second half though to the tune of 12 points on 5-7 shooting. Jorgensen's play helped spark a stagnant Butler offense and fired up the defense. Overall he finished with 16 points and 7 rebounds for yet another terrific outing. He's established himself as a bona fide second scorer to pair with Kamar Baldwin. Butler's Bigs Are Who We Thought They Were The story early on was the surprising play of Butler's big men, particularly sophomore Joey Brunk. It looked like not only would the position not be a weakness, but it could possibly be a strength. A few games deeper into the season and it looks like the excitement may have been a bit premature. Brunk has absolutely made great strides and is deserving of his minutes, but it doesn't look like he's going to be a reliable third scoring option against Big East caliber competition. Fowler continues to be effective yet frustrating at times as he continues his reign on the message board as Butler's most polarizing player. Butler is going to get enough to survive out of the center position, but it's going to have to be the perimeter that carries the Bulldogs. Those perimeter players can't abandon the post though, and they need to allow both Brunk and Fowler to be opportunistic scorers and feed them the ball when they find themselves in quality scoring positions. Successful Atlantis Trip The loss to Dayton absolutely stings, even though Dayton will challenge for the A10 title, but this victory makes it a successful trip overall for the Bulldogs. They finish 2-1 in the Bahamas and add a quality neutral site victory over Florida to their resume. Butler entered the tournament 32nd in the country in the KenPom ratings and will leave 29th, solidifying Butler's status as an NCAA tournament quality team. Only Villanova has a better KenPom rating in the Big East at #15. It's going to be a dogfight once conference play rolls around and Butler should be right there in the thick of things.
THanks as always Jared Man Paulie j can sure make me mad with his shot selection and also how badly he can miss sometimes but boy has he straight stepped up for his senior year Love that we have him on our team and his improvement this year has been very crucial to our success so far
He's a classic no...no...no...yes guy. I'd love for him to improve his shot selection, but if LaVall tried to reel him in he would probably hurt his overall production and energy. You just have a to let him loose and hope the great shots outweigh the dumb shots. He's frustrating to watch one minute and electrifying the next.
As a 5th year senior, I’m thinking he won’t be improving his shot selection. He is polarizing because there is usually nothing in moderation with him from possession to possession and from game to game. Personally, not a fan of that type of inconsistency. When he shoots fundamentally, he is a very good shooter. His attempts to go 1 on 3 in transition drive me even more nuts though. Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops mobile app
PJ is incredibly confident and is a winner. Without him we are in trouble. The number of bad shots he takes is no worse than KB. PJ’s range is far greater than KB and he is confident in letting it fly which makes it difficult for the defenders. Fowler played well last night including sealing off for KB and his defense. His back door pass to McD was special. Would love to see that play run more often. Where I have problems watching players is when their fundamentals are flawed and never fixed. That is either on the player or coaches going back to high school. I pull my hair out when I see a bad form on a jump shot, bringing the ball down after a rebound then going back up, dribbling when receiving the ball under the basket when all you need to do is shoot, not knowing how to shoot a hook shot if you are a big, not meeting the ball, playing on your heels, not blocking out, poor free throw shooting.
The good far outweighs the negative concerning PJ this season. His consistency has always been an issue but his contributions and overall production have been very positive. Some may not be a fan of his style but his effort has been instrumental in BU's success so far.
Thinking bout the whole weekend more I think lavall is a great coach He got the team ready after a poor shooting game and also I believe got the team to attack more in the second half of the Florida game He knows how to play our teams strengths and the team always looks confident no matter what the score is or how the game is going Plus he made the team lock it up on defense after that first game as well Glad he is our guy and he is a players coach
In PJ’s defense I’d like to add that teams like Butler— though this is less true under Lavall than under control freaks like Brad— need players that gun it— that “shoot to get hot and shoot to stay hot.” It creates psychological space for more cerebral, anxious players to let it fly. And you gotta have that mojo feeling to beat great teams— you can’t do it “tight”.
LaVall is a tremendous coach for him IMO. This is where Coach Jordan excels. I was not excited about Jorgensen coming over from GW when I saw he wasn’t performing well there. In hindsight, now that we know more about the type of player PJ is and the type of environment over at GW, it’s pretty obvious why he was struggling. Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops mobile app
Man PJ has range and a beautiful jump shot. The man plays hard and with a winners mentality which is what I think LJ wants in a player. I’m not troubled by a bad shot if he is shooting 40%+ from three and rarely turns the ball over and gets rebounds and steals. I wish McD would play like PJ and take 10+ shots a game. Those two shooting away and KB driving it to the basket would be tough to defend
Like I said in my post PJ has improved so much from this year to last in the sense of taking a lead role. I want more and more of it He has been already and moving forward will be a huge part of this team making it to the tourney
Paulie will make you scream a few times a game. Sometimes it's in frustration, and sometimes in exultation. Sent from my SM-G892U using Butler Hoops mobile app
