This was a game worthy of a meeting between two teams that try to guide their conduct on and off the floor by the same basic tenets. Butler came in as the underdog, outmanned and outgunned, but they gave us a hell of a game.
We trailed 25-23 at the half. The score didn’t surprise me — we’ve trailed at the break in plenty of games to teams without Butler’s pedigree over the last few seasons — but I was surprised and frustrated by how it got there. Butler stymied our offense by fronting our bigs to deny post entry, and our response was to fire contested jumpers instead of patiently trying lobs or working our guards into the lane. On the other end, Butler was carried by Andrew Chrabascz, a footnote in the scouting report with five double digit scoring efforts in his last fifteen games when this one tipped off. Chrabascz scored his 10th point of this game with 3:19 to play in the first half, and added 14 more in the next seven minutes; canning three threes and logging a traditional three point play off of a twisting layup to give him 24 and the Bulldogs a three point lead. Isaiah Wilkins was his first victim, overcompensating for how he’s struggled to close out on stretch fours in the past by jumping at every pump fake. Mike Tobey also got in to the action, struggling because he’s simply not laterally quick enough. Chrabascz’s second half flurry was particularly infuriating because we were finally executing on offense. When Chrabascz scored his 24th point, we were 4-4 from the floor in the second half, had yet to log an empty possession, and trailed by a point more than we did a the break. That doesn’t happen often, and neither does a Chrabascz-kicking, as the sophomore’s previous season highs were 19 points and two made threes.
I never panicked. One guy — particularly an unheralded one — scoring two thirds of a team’s points isn’t a sustainable strategy against a team like ours, and the offense — with points from six different guys not named Malcolm in the first six minutes of the second half — was playing well enough at the beginning of the second half that I assumed it was just a matter of time until things swung our way.
Around this time, Malcolm Brogdon made eye contact with CTB and asked to guard Chrabascz. From that point — roughly the 15 minute mark of the second half — he wouldn’t make another basket, would only take three shots, and produced just one more point. Chrabascz is a lesser light than some of the others on Malcolm’s highlight reel — he’s not a Cat Barber, Sheldon McLellan, Damion Lee, or Brandon Ingram — but this was great work at a vital moment by the best Virginia defender in recent memory.
With Chrabascz out of the picture, we slowly pulled ahead. Marial — who was huge in this one, defending ably as part of our four guard lineup and scoring in double figures for the second consecutive game for the first time since November — made a layup and the foul to give us our first two possession lead of the half at 53-49. After the two teams traded baskets a couple of times, Mike Tobey grabbed an offensive rebound and made a layup for a six point lead, and after a TV timeout, AG (who had a huge second half once we doubled down on getting our guards into the lane) did this:
Things got kind of dicy late with some questionable passing and the relentlessness of Roosevelt Jones (he had 13 points in the last 10 minutes), but we made enough free throws to finish things off. The offense, for those curious, produced 1.5 points per possession on 73% shooting in the second half, spurred on by the versatility of the four guard lineup, a renewed focus on the interior (and dedication to getting the ball there thanks to more dives to the lane off screens), and some lucky shot making. It’s a testament to Butler that they never got down by more than nine — if the first half was a musty excuse to change the channel to Spurs-Warriors, the second half was an example of how much fun the college game can be.
We have to feel good about this win. Butler’s good — a well-coached, versatile group who clearly watched both MSU games from recent years — and not only beating them, but being willing to bend (the four guard lineup for much of the second) to do so is an additional example of how CTB is continuing to mature from a coach that is willing to go down in flames behind his system to one willing to put his talent in the best position to walk out of a basketball game with a win. We got contributions from up and down the roster. Malcolm scored 22, but AG had 15 in the second half and 19 for the game, Marial scored 12, and Mike Tobey had 10 points and two big offensive rebounds despite being limited by matchups to nine minutes. Devon Hall only scored four and had some questionable turnovers (being picked from behind twice in the first half smarted), but played terrific defense on Roosevelt Jones in the first half and contested some Kellen Dunham jumpers perfectly in the second half. London got into the lane and set the bigs up in the second half. It was the kind of collective effort that spells success at this time of year. We’re in the Sweet Sixteen for the second time in three years. Enjoy it.
