Butler stumbles on senior night against Georgetown

• Butler at Providence%2C noon Saturday%2C Fox Sports 1

Senior night is a special moment for obvious reasons. It gives fans a chance to salute players that have contributed to the program during the last four years.

But it also can mess up a routine. Butler coach Chris Holtmann even admitted in the days leading up to the Bulldogs' home finale against Georgetown on Tuesday night he sometimes players put too much pressure on themselves on such nights as they try to give their departing teammates a special sendoff.

"You have so much emotion for those that you battled with, particularly our three seniors," Holtmann said on Monday. "But you also don't want our guys putting too much on themselves. Concentrate on the next play, particularly what is right in front of us."

Perhaps that's what happened to the 21st-ranked Bulldogs in their 60-54 loss to the Hoyas before a sellout crowd of 9,100 at Hinkle Fieldhouse. They never seemed quite in rhythm in their attempt to send seniors Kameron Woods, Alex Barlow and Jackson Aldridge out with a victory.

Georgetown had a lot to do with that. The Hoyas might be the only Big East team that more than holds its own with the Bulldogs when it comes to physical play. They held Butler to just 35 percent shooting (18-for-51) and blocked 10 shots, matching the season high for a Bulldogs' opponent. Roosevelt Jones had a rare off night, making just 2-of-10 shots and adding four turnovers.

"I think you've got to always have an aggressive mindset," Barlow said. "Rose is really good at getting to the paint. He's a really good passer. There's a reason he leads our team in assists. Some days, the opposing team will alter his shots more than others. I've got the utmost confidence he's going to make the right play."

But from the beginning, things just didn't seem right. Kellen Dunham came off the bench 3 minutes into the game to allow Aldridge to start, but never found his rhythm and finished with just eight points, less than half his 17-point average.

Andrew Chrabascz returned after missing four games because of a broken hand, but was 0-for-6 from the line and finished with eight points. Holtmann said he didn't plan to play Chrabascz 31 minutes, but the Bulldogs needed his size against a long, athletic Georgetown team.

Then there was the bad free-throw shooting. Part of it was because Chrabascz had to shoot with a still-sore right hand, but the Bulldogs were just 10-for-22 (45.5 percent). It looked like they had put their poor foul shooting from earlier in the season behind them during Big East play. But on this night, it bit them at a bad time.

Butler (21-9, 11-6) and Georgetown (19-9, 11-6) are tied for second in the Big East, but Georgetown owns the tiebreaker and would be the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament if it started today. Butler would slip to fourth if it loses at Providence on Saturday.

"It's a disappointing loss," Holtmann said. "Give Georgetown credit. They were really active on both ends, they were really physical. They made it really difficult for us to score."

Yet, those free throws. Butler did some things very well. The Bulldogs outrebounded Georgetown – which is second in the Big East in rebounding margin behind only Butler – 39-20, including 17-2 on the offensive end. Kameron Woods had 15 points and 16 rebounds of his own.

But they gave up too many easy baskets in transition. Georgetown scored 19 points off Butler's 15 turnovers.

"They had quite a few of what we call pick-6s, where they get a steal and get a layup and we can't set up our defense," Woods said. "We expect to win the rebounding battle every game, so from that standpoint, it doesn't surprise me. But we've got to clean some things up."

The Bulldogs also had a difficult time with former North Central High School standout D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera. The Big East preseason player of the year played liked it back in his hometown, finishing with 16 points and seven rebounds.

But his biggest play may have been on the defensive end. Georgetown was clinging to a 56-54 lead with 10.4 seconds remaining when Josh Smith went to the line to shoot a one-and-one. Smith missed the free throw and Woods rebounded, but Smith-Rivera snuck in behind him to make the steal and was fouled by Chrabascz.

Smith hit two free throws with 6 seconds left. The Hoyas intercepted the inbounds pass and added two more free throws for the final score.

"Those are the plays that coach usually tells me to sprint back on defense," Smith-Rivera said. "But he just exposed the ball to me. He didn't see me. In my mind, it was either get it . . ."

"Or get fired," a laughing Georgetown coach John Thompson III said, filling in the blank.

"I think that's an outstanding win against an outstanding team," Thompson said. "They literally don't make mistakes on either end of the court. You have to come in and find a way. Every time we would get up, they would make a run at us and this fabulous crowd they have would get into it. I liked how we responded."

Georgetown built a 10-point lead early in the second half, but Butler came back and took a 37-36 lead on Dunham's 3-pointer with 12:58 left. Neither team led by more than five the rest of the way until the Hoyas hit those final two free throws.

Now, Butler tries to put a bow on a much better-than-expected season Saturday at No. 24 Providence – which already has a win at Hinkle this season.

"We've had a lot of special moments this year," Holtmann said. "This is what we signed up for. We're in a power league. It's a really good league."

Follow Star reporter Michael Pointer on Twitter: @michaelpointer.

GEORGETOWN 60, No. 21 BUTLER 54

Percentages: FG .465, FT .867.

3-Point Goals: 7-17, .412 (Campbell 2-3, Smith-Rivera 2-4, Bowen 1-2, Copeland 1-3, Trawick 1-4, White 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 0.

Blocked Shots: 10 (Hopkins 4, Copeland 3, White, Bowen, Trawick).

Turnovers: 10 (Trawick 3, Smith-Rivera 2, Bowen, Hopkins, White, Copeland, Smith).

Steals: 8 (Peak 2, Hopkins, Smith-Rivera, White, Campbell, Copeland, Bowen).

Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .353, FT .455.

3-Point Goals: 8-20, .400 (Barlow 3-5, Chrabascz 2-3, Dunham 2-9, Martin 1-1, Aldridge 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 9.

Blocked Shots: 2 (Chrabascz, Woods).

Turnovers: 15 (Woods 5, Barlow 4, Jones 4, Etherington, Chrabascz).

Steals: 5 (Jones 3, Woods, Barlow).

Technical Fouls: None.

A—9,100.

Officials—Jeffrey Anderson, Joe Lindsay, Tom Eades.