Butler brings Big East road woes to DePaul

Field Level Media|published: Fri 21st February, 19:07 2025

Butler Bulldogs forward Patrick McCaffery (22) celebrates a 3-pointer Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, during an NCAA men’s basketball game between the Butler Bulldogs and the Marquette Golden Eagles at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Butler aims to earn a rare road win Saturday night when it visits DePaul for a Big East battle in Chicago.

The Bulldogs (12-14, 5-10 Big East) are coming off a 76-63 loss Tuesday at Xavier, which dropped them to 1-7 in road games this season.

It was a rare off-night for Patrick McCaffery, who has emerged as one of the top 3-point shooters in the conference. He missed all five of his shots from the floor, including two from beyond the arc.

McCaffery averages 11.5 points per game and has knocked down a team-high 58 3-pointers in his first season with Butler after transferring from Iowa. The sixth-year forward canned just 31.2 percent of his 3s for the Hawkeyes, but has converted 41.7 percent for the Bulldogs.

"I put in a lot of work every single day to improve as a player," McCaffery told the Indianapolis Star. "But this offseason, I knew that to have my best chance moving forward as a professional, and not as a good college player, and somebody that can really help this team if I was able to really (shoot 3s)."

Injury-plagued DePaul (11-16, 2-14) extended its losing streak to four games with Tuesday's 89-61 loss to No. 10 St. John's.

Indiana transfer CJ Gunn recorded his first career double-double in the loss, scoring 12 points and pulling down a career-high 10 rebounds. Gunn started the year as a backup, but has jumped into the lineup and reached double figures in 12 straight games to become the Blue Demons' leading scorer at 12.3 points per game.

One interesting storyline for Saturday is DePaul general manager Lavall Jordan, a Butler alum, coached the Bulldogs for five seasons before being let go in 2022.

Jordan and the Blue Demons are 0-1 against his alma mater this year as Butler won 86-69 on Jan. 25 in Indianapolis. McCaffrey was held to only 3 points in that game while Pierre Brooks II led the charge with 29. NJ Benson scored 20 to pace DePaul, marking only his second effort of 20 or more points on the year.

Brooks averages 15.5 points per outing for Butler and has scored in double figures in five consecutive games.

--Field Level Media