# 2018–19 Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team

The 2018–19 Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Butler University in the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were coached by LaVall Jordan, in his second year as head coach of his alma mater. The Bulldogs played their home games at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana as members of the Big East Conference. They finished the season 16–17, 7–11 in Big East play which tied them for eighth place. As the No. 9 seed in the Big East tournament, they were defeated by Providence in the quarterfinals. The Bulldogs received an at-large bid to the NIT as the No. 5 seed in the TCU bracket. There they were defeated in the first round by Nebraska to end the season.

## Previous season

The Bulldogs finished the 2017–18 season 21–14, 9–9 in Big East play to finish a tie for sixth place. As the No. 6 seed in the Big East tournament, they defeated Seton Hall before losing to Villanova in the semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 10 seed in the Midwest region. There they defeated Arkansas in the first round before losing to Purdue in the second round.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Kelan Martin | 30 | F | 6'7" | 220 | Senior | Louisville, KY | Graduated |
| Tyler Wideman | 4 | F | 6'8" | 240 | Senior | Merrillville, IN | Graduated |

### 2018 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Markeese Hastings SF | Grand Rapids, MI | Godwin Heights High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Nov 11, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: ESPN: N/A ||||||
| Bryce Golden PF | Hagerstown, MD | St. James School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 230 lb (100 kg) | Apr 30, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2018 Butler Commits". Rivals.com. "2018 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. ||||||

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Jordan Tucker | 1 | F | 6'7" | 210 | Sophomore | White Plains, NY | Transferred from Duke prior to the Spring 2018 semester. He became eligible when the Fall 2018 semester concluded, and has two and a half years of remaining eligibility. |
| Bryce Nze | 10 | F | 6'7" | 230 | Sophomore | Hartland, WI | Transferred from Milwaukee. Under NCAA transfer rules, Nze will redshirt for the 2018–19 season and have two years of remaining eligibility. |

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition |||||||||
| October 28, 2018* 2:00 pm | | Tiffin | W 100–63 | – | 17 – Baldwin | 8 – Tied | 5 – Baldwin | Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,454) Indianapolis, IN |
| November 3, 2018* 4:00 pm | | Southern Indiana | W 79–58 | – | 24 – Jorgensen | 7 – Brunk | 4 – Baldwin | Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,805) Indianapolis, IN |
| Non-conference regular season |||||||||
| November 10, 2018* 7:00 pm, FSN | | Miami (OH) Battle 4 Atlantis campus-site game | W 90–68 | 1–0 | 21 – Baldwin | 7 – Tied | 6 – Baldwin | Hinkle Fieldhouse (9,171) Indianapolis, IN |
| November 12, 2018* 6:30 pm, FS1 | | Detroit Mercy | W 84–63 | 2–0 | 26 – Baldwin | 8 – Baldwin | 6 – Baldwin | Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,741) Indianapolis, IN |
| November 16, 2018* 8:00 pm, FS2 | | Ole Miss | W 83–76 | 3–0 | 27 – Jorgensen | 8 – Baldwin | 5 – Baldwin | Hinkle Fieldhouse (8,328) Indianapolis, IN |
| November 21, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | vs. Dayton Battle 4 Atlantis Quarterfinals | L 64–69 | 3–1 | 18 – Tied | 7 – Fowler | 7 – Baldwin | Imperial Arena (1,452) Nassau, Bahamas |
| November 22, 2018* 9:30 pm, ESPNU | | vs. Middle Tennessee Battle 4 Atlantis consolation | W 84–53 | 4–1 | 21 – Tied | 5 – Tied | 8 – Thompson | Imperial Arena (953) Nassau, Bahamas |
| November 23, 2018* 9:30 pm, ESPNU | | vs. Florida Battle 4 Atlantis 5th place game | W 61–54 | 5–1 | 19 – Baldwin | 7 – Jorgensen | 5 – Baldwin | Imperial Arena (1,140) Nassau, Bahamas |
| December 1, 2018* 5:00 pm, FSMW | | at Saint Louis | L 52–64 | 5–2 | 12 – McDermott | 9 – Tied | 2 – Thompson | Chaifetz Arena (9,572) St. Louis, MO |
| December 5, 2018* 7:00 pm, FSN | | Brown | W 70–55 | 6–2 | 19 – Jorgensen | 6 – Thompson | 4 – Tied | Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,361) Indianapolis, IN |
| December 8, 2018* 4:30 pm, FS1 | | Northern Illinois | W 95–68 | 7–2 | 23 – McDermott | 7 – Baldwin | 9 – Thompson | Hinkle Fieldhouse (8,247) Indianapolis, IN |
| December 15, 2018* 3:45 pm, CBS | | vs. No. 25-T Indiana Crossroads Classic | L 68–71 | 7–3 | 20 – McDermott | 6 – McDermott | 5 – Thompson | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (18,743) Indianapolis, IN |
| December 18, 2018* 8:30 pm, FS1 | | Presbyterian | W 76–67 | 8–3 | 18 – Thompson | 8 – Brunk | 7 – Thompson | Hinkle Fieldhouse (6,821) Indianapolis, IN |
| December 21, 2018* 6:30 pm, FS1 | | UC Irvine | W 71–54 | 9–3 | 19 – Jorgensen | 7 – Jorgensen | 7 – Thompson | Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,732) Indianapolis, IN |
| December 29, 2018* 4:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Florida | L 43–77 | 9–4 | 9 – Baldwin | 3 – Baldwin | 2 – Tied | Exactech Arena (9,814) Gainesville, FL |
| Big East regular season |||||||||
| January 2, 2019 7:00 pm, FSN/MASN2 | | Georgetown | L 76–84 | 9–5 (0–1) | 15 – Baddley | 8 – Tied | 5 – Thompson | Hinkle Fieldhouse (8,876) Indianapolis, IN |
| January 5, 2019 12:00 pm, FS1 | | Creighton | W 84–69 | 10–5 (1–1) | 28 – Baldwin | 8 – McDermott | 7 – Baldwin | Hinkle Fieldhouse (9,148) Indianapolis, IN |
| January 9, 2018 8:30 pm, FS1 | | at Seton Hall | L 75–76 | 10–6 (1–2) | 23 – Baldwin | 10 – Brunk | 3 – Tied | Prudential Center (7,640) Newark, NJ |
| January 13, 2019 12:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Xavier | L 69–70 | 10–7 (1–3) | 18 – Baldwin | 8 – Tucker | 7 – Baldwin | Cintas Center (10,144) Cincinnati, OH |
| January 16, 2019 9:30 pm, FS1 | | at DePaul | W 87–69 | 11–7 (2–3) | 19 – Tucker | 14 – Baldwin | 5 – Baldwin | Wintrust Arena (4,616) Chicago, IL |
| January 19, 2019 4:30 pm, FOX | | St. John's | W 80–71 | 12–7 (3–3) | 30 – Baldwin | 12 – McDermott | 3 – Tied | Hinkle Fieldhouse (9,121) Indianapolis, IN |
| January 22, 2019 7:00 pm, FS1 | | No. 18 Villanova | L 72–80 | 12–8 (3–4) | 15 – Thompson | 7 – McDermott | 4 – Thompson | Hinkle Fieldhouse (8,962) Indianapolis, IN |
| January 25, 2019 8:30 pm, FS1 | | at Creighton | L 61–75 | 12–9 (3–5) | 23 – Baldwin | 5 – Tied | 3 – Tied | CHI Health Center Omaha (18,089) Omaha, NE |
| January 30, 2019 6:30 pm, FS1 | | No. 10 Marquette | L 58–76 | 12–10 (3–6) | 16 – Baldwin | 6 – Fowler | 4 – Thompson | Hinkle Fieldhouse (8,292) Indianapolis, IN |
| February 2, 2019 12:00 pm, FS1 | | Seton Hall | W 70–68 | 13–10 (4–6) | 18 – Jorgensen | 7 – McDermott | 6 – Thompson | Hinkle Fieldhouse (9,102) Indianapolis, IN |
| February 9, 2019 12:00 pm, FSN/MASN2 | | at Georgetown | W 73–69 | 14–10 (5–6) | 18 – Baldwin | 5 – Tied | 3 – Tied | Capital One Arena (13,345) Washington, D.C. |
| February 12, 2019 8:30 pm, CBSSN | | at St. John's | L 73–77 $^{OT}$ | 14–11 (5–7) | 16 – Baldwin | 9 – Jorgensen | 4 – Thompson | Carnesecca Arena (5,602) Queens, NY |
| February 16, 2019 8:00 pm, FS1 | | DePaul | W 91–78 | 15–11 (6–7) | 25 – Baldwin | 6 – McDermott | 5 – Tied | Hinkle Fieldhouse (9,100) Indianapolis, IN |
| February 20, 2019 9:00 pm, CBSSN | | at No. 11 Marquette | L 69–79 | 15–12 (6–8) | 27 – McDermott | 8 – McDermott | 2 – Tied | Fiserv Forum (14,600) Milwaukee, WI |
| February 26, 2019 7:00 pm, FS1 | | Providence | L 67–73 | 15–13 (6–9) | 27 – Baldwin | 6 – Baldwin | 5 – Thompson | Hinkle Fieldhouse (8,149) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 2, 2019 2:00 pm, FOX | | at Villanova | L 54–75 | 15–14 (6–10) | 11 – Jorgenson | 5 – Baldwin | 4 – Thompson | Wells Fargo Center (17,515) Philadelphia, PA |
| March 5, 2019 6:00 pm, FS1 | | Xavier | W 71–66 | 16–14 (7–10) | 24 – Baldwin | 6 – Baldwin | 4 – David | Hinkle Fieldhouse (8,551) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 9, 2019 12:00 pm, FSN | | at Providence | L 70–83 | 16–15 (7–11) | 17 – Jorgensen | 4 – Tied | 4 – Thompson | Dunkin' Donuts Center (12,004) Providence, RI |
| Big East tournament |||||||||
| March 13, 2019 7:00 pm, FS1 | (9) | vs. (8) Providence Quarterfinals | L 57–80 | 16–16 | 14 – Tucker | 5 – Fowler | 6 – Thompson | Madison Square Garden (19,812) New York, NY |
| NIT |||||||||
| March 20, 2019* 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | (5) | at (4) Nebraska First round – TCU bracket | L 76–80 | 16–17 | 14 – McDermott | 7 – McDermott | 12 – Thompson | Pinnacle Bank Arena (10,103) Lincoln, NE |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time . |||||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| AP | RV | RV | RV | — | — | — | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Not released |
| Coaches | RV | RV^ | RV | RV | — | — | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings ^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.

## Awards

| Name | Award(s) |
| Kamar Baldwin | Preseason All-Big East First Team |