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Men's College Basketball
Preview
Merrimack at Butler
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, November 22, 2024
Where: Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana

The Butler Bulldogs complete their season-opening five-game homestand against the Merrimack Warriors on Friday night.

The Bulldogs (3-1) have won two in a row after their losing to Austin Peay on Nov. 8.

Butler is coming off an 81-70 victory over SMU on Friday, when six Bulldog players scored in double figures, including a 10-point, nine-rebound performance from Andre Screen off the bench. Butler's bench players combined to score 24 points in the win, twice as many as they had scored in their loss to the Governors.

"We're telling guys when they go in, 'Just go and do your job,'" Bulldogs coach Thad Matta said. "That's what those guys have to do when they come into the basketball game, and we've had a little bit of pouting going on and we've nipped that in the bud."

Jahmyl Telfort is averaging a career-high 16.3 points, which leads the team. He had 19 points, six rebounds and five assists in the win over the Mustangs. Butler has three other players averaging double-digit points: Patrick McCaffery (15.3), Pierre Brooks II (15.0) and Finley Bizjack (10.7).

Merrimack (1-3) enters the game on a three-game losing streak. The Warriors have lost to VCU, Princeton and No. 24 Rutgers -- each by double digits. In their latest loss, the Warriors kept it close but eventually ran out of steam against the Scarlet Knights, who won 74-63 on Wednesday. Adam Clark scored 22 points in the loss as Merrimack was held to 40.6 percent shooting from the floor and hit just 4 of 24 shots from beyond the arc.

"I don't think the moment was too big. I didn't see any wide eyes out there," Merrimack coach Joe Gallo said. "You know, at the end of the day, I told them as good as those guys are, they're 18-, 19-year-old kids. We have some 24-, 25-year-olds and that's college basketball."

This is Merrimack's sixth season as a Division I basketball program. Last season, the Warriors narrowly fell to the Georgetown Hoyas 69-67 but finished the campaign at 21-12.

--Field Level Media

Stats and Records
Team Comparison
  W/L Strk Home Away Neutral Day Night Conf
Merrimack 1-3 L3 1-1 0-2 0-0 0-1 1-2 0-0
Butler 3-1 W2 3-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 3-1 0-0
Last Meeting
Merrimack Butler
Date Away Home Pts Reb FG% Pts Reb FG%
No previous meeting.
Player Stats
Previous Matchup
Points Player Total FG% FTM
Merrimack N/A
Butler N/A
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
Merrimack N/A
Butler N/A
Assists Player  
Merrimack N/A
Butler N/A
Season
Points Player Total FG% FTM
Merrimack A. Clark 84 43.4 17
Butler J. Telfort 65 46.2 22
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
Merrimack S. Trumper 23 5 18
Butler A. Screen 22 9 13
Assists Player  
Merrimack A. Clark 17
Butler F. Bizjack 14
Quickchart Matchup
blue bar Merrimack Off vs  red bar Butler Defense
blue bar 56.8 Points For
red bar 67.0 Points Against
blue bar 37.1 FG%
red bar 37.8 FG%
blue bar 27.8 Reb
red bar 30.5 Reb
red bar Butler Off vs  blue bar Merrimack Defense
red bar 76.0 Points For
blue bar 64.0 Points Against
red bar 45.9 FG%
blue bar 41.2 FG%
red bar 31.3 Reb
blue bar 37.0 Reb