Villanova to again face surprising Butler

Hardly anyone who observes the Big East figured that Butler would do much to contend for the conference title this season, and the league coaches agreed, picking the Bulldogs for seventh place in their preseason poll.

Oh, how wrong they were.

The 18th-ranked Bulldogs made it to Saturday with an 18-6 record, a five-game winning streak, and a chance to move into a share of the lead in the Big East when they take on No. 6 Villanova in front of a sellout crowd at the 87-year-old Hinkle Fieldhouse.

"I was on a radio show there [Thursday], and somebody told me that they're promoting it as the biggest game in the history of Hinkle Fieldhouse," Wildcats coach Jay Wright said Friday of the place he has called "kind of like basketball heaven."

"I say that because I appreciate the way the fans react to all the intelligent basketball plays that they make. They almost react to the intelligent basketball plays you make, not to applaud you, but you can kind of hear a sigh like, 'Wow, that was a nice play.' "

The Wildcats (22-2), who are 9-2 in the conference while Butler is 8-3, defeated the Bulldogs, 67-55, on New Year's Eve at the Pavilion in their Big East opener. A sobering statistic, however, was that Butler held a 40-29 rebounding advantage and limited 'Nova to just three offensive rebounds.

In fact, in their last 12 games, a stretch that started with Butler, the Wildcats are 6-6 in the battle of the boards, a statistic that concerns Wright.

"Part of our offensive-rebounding numbers is that we've been more efficient offensively," he said. "But I do think we've got to get better at that. Defensive rebounds are quite a concern, too. In the Providence game, we were doing a pretty good job defensively, but they were getting offensive rebounds and scoring. Against this Butler team, it's a major concern."

The Bulldogs are No. 1 in the Big East in rebounding margin. Kameron Woods is second in the conference with 9.5 rebounds per game.

"We have to rebound as a team," Wright said. "I'm most concerned about it defensively, but offensively I'd like to see us get better, too."

JayVaughn Pinkston, the Cats' second-leading rebounder, said the key is simple: "Just concentrate on the little things that we do. We've just got to attack whenever we get the opportunity."

The Bulldogs feature one of the Big East's top perimeter shooters in 6-foot-6 junior Kellen Dunham and a fine guard tandem in 6-4 Roosevelt Jones and 5-11 Alex Barlow. Jones can bring the ball upcourt, pass it, shoot it, and grab his own rebound if he misses.

"He's a tough kid - strong, athletic, makes plays for his teammates," Villanova guard Darrun Hilliard said. "He's just a great all-around player, and I respect him so much."

Chris Holtmann, who was named Butler's interim head coach after Brandon Miller took a medical leave of absence and saw his position become permanent last month, said his team has to do a better job of dealing with the Wildcats' physical play and grind defensively on their every possession.

"They're an elite team in the country, so they're going to make some plays," he said. "So we're going to have to try to limit those numbers of plays and limit their runs."