BUTLER INSIDER

Butler's remarkable run at Fieldhouse continues

Zak Keefer
zak.keefer@indystar.com

For Sunday's paper, I wrote about the low expectations Butler entered the season with, and how this team, in the mold of their first-year head coach, are exceeding those expectations.

Here are a few more loose ends I wanted to cover following the Bulldogs' 76-70 victory over Purdue:

Second home

Butler continues it's remarkable run of success at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Consider:

>> After Saturday's win, Butler is now 9-2 all-time in the facility.

>> They have won seven straight at the venue

>> Their record against in-state rivals Indiana and Purdue at BLF is 6-1

>> Butler is 13-4 against Big Ten teams since the 2006-07 season, and they've won four straight over Purdue. Last time the Boilermakers beat the Bulldogs? It was 1998.

Taking center stage

If those in Big East basketball circles don't know the name Kellen Dunham, they're going to know it very, very soon.

What can you say of his production over the past month? If he keeps this up, he'll be a Big East first-team selection.

Dunham poured in 25 points Saturday and shot an extremely efficient 8-for-16 from the floor. Perhaps most impressive: Only six of those 25 came from beyond the 3-point arc.

"For him to score 25 and only hit two 3s, that's a testament of what he is as a player," Miller said.

MORE:Purdue bemoans its lack of poise

PHOTOS:Butler 76, Purdue 70

In his last six outings, Dunham has finished with 25, 15, 29, 20, 9 and 32 points. He's currently second among all Big East players in scoring right now, trailing only National Player of the Year favorite Doug McDermott of Creighton.

And Purdue, to its credit, gave him as a tough a defensive test as he's seen all season -- he acknowledged as much after the game. That forced him to beat them in different ways.

It wasn't easy, but he got the job done.

"Those guys made it pretty difficult on me," Dunham said. "They were forcing me to the baseline ... I thought they did a tremendous job on me."

Dunham's window to shoot was amazingly small. But he -- akin to most great shooters -- only needed an inch. His 3-pointer from the left wing that pushed Butler's lead to 16 with 2:25 left all but sealed this one.

"He's not a one-trick pony," Purdue coach Matt Painter said of Dunham. "He can shoot 3s, he can draw fouls, he can shoot the step back."

Butler guard Kellen Dunham shoots a three-point basket against Purdue during the second half, Saturday, December 14, 2013, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Fromm's big day

Erik Fromm put together his best game of the season Saturday, finishing with 14 points (just two shy of his career-high). Entering the game, he was just 6-for-29 from 3-point range, but he hit three Saturday on six attempts.

It should really come as no surprise. Fromm loves at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. In five games at the venue, he's 5-0.

The first win was the 2009 Class 4A state title game, when his Bloomington South Panthers clinched an undefeated season with a state championship. He won as an Indiana All-Star that summer in the annual series against Kentucky.

Since joining Butler, Fromm is 3-0 at Bankers Life, including a 2011 67-65 win over Purdue, last season's 88-86 win over Indiana, and this year's 76-70 victory over the Boilermakers.

Where's the bench?

Brandon Miller acknowledged after the game he would have liked to get his bench players some more minutes. All told, Purdue's reserves outscored the Butler reserves, 34-9.

But what he had on the court was working -- especially defensively. All five of his starters played 32 minutes or more, and the only player off the bench to see any significant amount of time was Elijah Brown (19 minutes). He scored all nine of Butler's bench points.

"Each game is different, and there are going to be games where we have different combinations playing well," Miller said. "There are going to be games where certain guys play heavier minutes. And there are going to be games where we utilize our bench. Hopefully our bench can come in and produce like they have earlier in the season.

"But I wish I would have gotten a couple guys in tonight. The flow of the game, and how well these guys played defense, we rode with the guys that were on the floor."