@unco_mbb Drops Season Opener at Butler

Saturday, November 12

Indianapolis, IN

5:30 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

0-1

Butler University

1-0

Northern Colorado

Butler

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

11/12/2016 9:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Kobee Stalder, UNCBears.com

Indianapolis, Ind. – Northern Colorado (0-1, 0-0 Big Sky) opened up the season on the road at Butler (1-0, 0-0 Big East) on Saturday night. The Bears hung with the Bulldogs throughout the first half, but were outscored 48-21 in the second half en route to an 89-52 loss.

How It Happened:
Butler, who earned the No. 9 seed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, is just one of three 2015 tournament teams UNC will see in the month of November.

The Bears hung toe-to-toe with the Bulldogs in the first half, as the Butler lead never eclipsed more than 13 points.

A three-ball from freshman guard, Kyle Carey cut the UNC deficit to just one (16-15) with 12:23 remaining in the half, before two quick buckets from Butler pushed it back to six.

The Bears leaned heavily on sophomore guard, Jordan Davis for production in the first act and he didn't disappoint, scoring 20 of his game-high 25 points.

Davis was the only player for Northern Colorado to finish in double figures on the night.

The largest lead of the half came during a UNC dry spell. From 6:22 to 3:07, the Bears had trouble finding the hoop. Meanwhile, Butler used a 10-0 run to go up 40-27.

Northern Colorado got the Bulldog lead back down to 10 before halftime, taking a 41-31 deficit into the locker room.

The second half was a different tale all together.

Shots began to fall for the perennial NCAA Tournament team, and just like that, the Bulldogs were up by 20 (58-38) just six minutes into the final 20 minutes of action.

UNC had no answer for the potent offense after Davis was forced to take an early leave from the game due to cramping, shooting just 28.0% from the floor and 0-of-7 from beyond the arc in the second half, as Butler expanded its lead to 37 before it was all said and done.

Northern Colorado finished the game 16-of-46 (34.8%) from the field and 4-of-20 (20.0%) from three-point land.

Game Changer:
Butler guards, Tyler Lewis and Kamar Baldwin caused problems for UNC on the offensive end of the court. Both put up double figures in the second half, scoring 10 and 11 points. Lewis finished the game with 16 points, while all 11 of Baldwin's points came in the second half.

Key Stat:
Sophomore guard, Jordan Davis was the lone Bear to finish in double figures on the night. Davis finished the game 7-of-11 from the field, but did a great job of getting to the free throw line, going 10-of-13 from the charity stripe.

In Their Words:
Head Coach, Jeff Linder
"As I told the guys in the locker room, take away the free throws that we missed and it's pretty much an even half. Now maybe they didn't come out quite ready to go, but we took the first punch and then we punched back. We told the guys at halftime that they were going to get the real Butler in the second half – you're going to get that NCAA Tournament team, that Top 25 team and we challenged them to see if they could match that intensity. We didn't meet the challenge tonight, but I thought we really took a step in the right direction."

"It really hurts when Jordan Davis, as good as he was in the first half, goes down because it really stalls our offense. A lot of its based off what he does and he showed what he can do against a very, very good defense team."

Notables:
- Northern Colorado had 19 turnovers in the game that resulted in 26 Butler points.
- Shooting guard, Chaz Glotta was second highest scorer for UNC, finishing with nine points, including going 2-for-4 from three.
- This was just the second time in school history that UNC had faced Butler. The Bulldogs now take a 2-0 lead in the all-time series.
- The Bears were outrebounded by the Bulldogs 35-24.
- UNC struggled from the free throw line, shooting just 57.0% (16-of-28).

Up Next:
The men's hoops team will return to Greeley for its regular season home opener next week when they face Colorado Christian on Nov. 16. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m.