Minnesota (3-1) got a game-high 18 points from Joey King, a former MVC All-Freshman Team selection at Drake, while Carlos Morris added 12 for the Big Ten Conference foe. The Bulldogs committed 29 fouls in the contest, and Miami took advantage of them, shooting 73.7% (28-38) from the free throw stripe. With just over five minutes remaining in the opening period, Butler had made just 28 percent of its shots, but still managed to lead 27-26.
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For 32 minutes, Temple held Butler University’s Tyler Lewis without a field goal. The teams combined for 53 fouls and 59 free throws. Boone scored again with 79 seconds left to get MSU within 70-66. Quenton DeCosey poured in 24 points in the semifinals and leads the team at 15.7 per game while fellow senior guard Devin Coleman (14.7) has been productive in an expanded role. “It was a good game, but there are no moral victories”, said Lusk. “I’ve said this for years: You have to play hard on offense, mentally tough and physically tough”.
In addition to Temple being better than the two other teams Butler has faced this season, part of the reason the Bulldogs couldn’t score at will against the Owls was that Temple slowed the pace of the game way down. “We had a few rough spots”, Holtmann said in a release, “which we anticipated we would”. While it was still effective and pleasant to watch, it was certainly more of an acquired taste than the first two games. Butler, like Temple, had four starters in double figures, and Kellen Dunham and Lewis both had 16 points. Butler is also a force on the glass, grabbing 50 rebounds per game and picking up 45 offensive boards in three games.
Missouri State’s duo of big men, or at least the closest thing they have to big men, showed improvement, but ultimately couldn’t overcome excellent perimeter shooting from Minnesota. Butler had just five turnovers….
“After having a morning game that I kind of slept walk through the first half yesterday, I really wanted to come out and make a statement at the beginning of this half”, King said.
Tyrone Wallace scored 20 points and Jabari Bird had 10 for the Golden Bears (3-0), who trailed midway through the first half before pulling away late in the first-ever meeting between the schools.
Josh Brown went 4-for-4 at the foul line in the final 25 seconds to keep the Owls in control, giving them their first win after nearly a week off following a season-opening loss to top-ranked North Carolina. In the final 3:35, the Bears went 9-of-12 at the stripe and went into the break trailing 44-31.
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And with three of those players now in the National Basketball Association, addressing those losses would not be a simple task for Sean Miller and his coaching staff. But what will help in that quest is Arizona’s depth, and that attribute was on display Thursday night as they beat Boise State 88-76 in an unbracketed game in the Wooden Legacy.
