Insider: Baldwin is doing Hayward things for Butler
- Seton Hall at Butler, 2:30 p.m. Saturday
CINCINNATI – Winning at Xavier as a freshman did not define Gordon Hayward’s college career. Same applies to Kamar Baldwin.
Comparisons are inevitable, though. Hayward ultimately played on a special Butler team, and now Baldwin is doing likewise.
This is college basketball’s regular season, and the book won’t be completed until after March. Still, what the Bulldogs did in a five-day span – go on the road and beat the top two Big East programs – qualifies as its own chapter in Butler’s 2000s story.
Kelan Martin scored 25 points Sunday, and the 22nd-ranked Bulldogs shot 55 percent in stealing one from Xavier 88-79. They prefaced that with a 74-66 upset at No. 2 Villanova.
• BOX SCORE: Butler 88, Xavier 79
The Bulldogs (23-6, 12-5) finished Big East road play at 6-3 and secured the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. Xavier (18-11, 8-8) endured its fifth consecutive defeat.
“At some point, the guys will look back at the season and this week and reflect and be incredibly proud of what they’ve done,” coach Chris Holtmann said. “And I don’t want them to not do that. It’s an incredible accomplishment to come on the road and get two wins against this quality of opponent, and to have a season up to this point like we have.
“I don’t want them to brush that aside. Having said that, we’ve got to be hungry to continue to get better.”
The Bulldogs ended a five-game losing streak at the Cintas Center. They had not won here since Dec. 23, 2008, when Hayward, Shelvin Mack and Ronald Nored were freshmen. Hayward had 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 74-65 win over then-No. 14 Xavier.
It wasn’t merely that Baldwin shot 8-of-15 and had 17 points, five rebounds, three assists and five steals.
He made a Jordan-esque field goal, flipping the ball over his shoulder with his back to the basket, off the glass and through. It was such a “circus shot,” as Xavier’s Sean O’Mara put it, that the frustrated O’Mara punched the ball and was assessed a technical foul. Martin made the two technical free throws, turning it into a four-point possession.
Suffice to say Baldwin does not attempt such shots in practice.
“I would say sometimes on my own, just messing around,” he said.
He made a buzzer-beating jump shot to end the first half. He scored six points in Butler’s late 15-3 run that turned a two-point deficit into an 84-74 lead. He and Kethan Savage kept stealing the ball and turning turnovers into points. On one play, Baldwin missed a layup but tipped it in afterward.
“He’s done it time after time after time. It’s not like this game is the exception or a novelty,” Xavier coach Chris Mack said. “He’s been that way on film. He’s been that way throughout the conference season.”
Martin, coming off the bench again, shot 9-of-15 and scored 10 points in one 95-second span. Five Butler players scored between eight and 11 points, underscoring the balance that has characterized this team. Andrew Chrabascz had six assists.
“When moments got low, we got even more together during those moments,” Chrabascz said.
The Bulldogs shot 58 percent in the second half.
Holtmann was not entirely satisfied, a trait explaining why he is front-runner to be Big East Coach of the Year. Butler was projected to finish sixth in the Big East.
Park Tudor’s Trevon Bluiett scored 21 points and J.P. Macura 17 for the Musketeers, who shot 48 percent and once made seven in a row.
“It’s fool’s gold if we continue to allow teams to shoot almost 50 percent with that level of efficiency,” Holtmann said. “At some point, it’s going to catch up with you. I think our guys understand that.”
At this point, it should be understood Butler has caught up to the Big East. In the first three seasons of its new league, Butler was 0-12 against teams in the top two. Against Villanova and Xavier, projected to be the top two of this year, Butler is 4-0. And now it's Butler in the top two.
If the Bulldogs win Saturday’s senior day game against Seton Hall, they would carry a five-game winning streak into the Big East tournament – a tournament in which they are 0-3. Win that, and they would secure a No. 2 or 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, earning an assignment to play the first two rounds at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
There is a long way to go, to borrow one of Holtmann’s favorite expressions. Yet we are reminded that another Butler team, and Hayward, once made it to Indy for the NCAA tournament.
To be continued.
Call IndyStar reporter David Woods at (317) 444-6195. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
Seton Hall at Butler, 2:30 p.m. Saturday