The Butler men’s basketball team has released its 2024-25 Big East Schedule.
Butler opens Big East play on Wednesday, Dec. 18, on the road against Marquette. The bulldogs The conference’s first home game will be Saturday, December 21 against the defending national champions University of Connecticut at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Here are three things that stand out about the Bulldogs’ Big East schedule:
A discouraging start-of-season calendar
The Big East is known for being a deep, tough and talented league, and the Bulldogs will immediately face the best the conference has to offer.
The Bulldogs travel to face Marquette to open the conference season, followed by a visit from national champion UConn, and a New Year’s Day matchup against a Villanova team looking to improve on its 18-16 record from last season. Butler’s first five-game series concludes with road games against St. John’s on Jan. 4 and Providence on Jan. 8.
It will be hard not to draw major conclusions from the results of Butler’s first five games.
Wins over Marquette and UConn would establish Butler as a conference title contender and an NCAA Tournament team. Splitting the first two games in either order would likely put Butler near the middle of the Big East pecking order. Losing both games still wouldn’t be cause for panic, but there will certainly be an increased sense of urgency heading into the new year. Back-to-back road games against St. John’s and Providence are another tough draw. Coming off that back-to-back will make the next game against Creighton more difficult, hopefully getting the Dawgs’ rotation sorted by early January.
February favorable
Things should improve for the Bulldogs in February. Their two toughest games should be the first two, away against Seton Hall and at home against Providence.
Kim English led Providence to 21 wins in his first year as head coach, but the Friars must replace the 13th overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft, Devin CarterThe Dawgs must avoid a home upset against Georgetown with a road game against rival Xavier looming three days later. The month ends with a road game against DePaul (a must-win) and a home game against St. John’s.
The Dawgs avoid what should be the upper echelon of the conference during the month of February. One would assume that Butler (if healthy) should be favored in four of the six February games, with Seton Hall and Xavier being the two exceptions.
Seniors’ evening will be electric
If the Dawgs play to their full potential, they’ll avoid the bubble and head into March looking to improve their conference standings and NCAA Tournament berth. Senior Night, Wednesday, March 5 against Xavier, is shaping up to be an electric game.
Last season, Butler beat Xavier 72-66 on Senior Night. I expect another close game against their bitter rival. The game will serve as a farewell to redshirt senior Patrick McCaffery and fifth-year seniors Jahmyl Telfort and Andre Screen. Expect emotions to be high and the crowd to be intense, assuming Butler has anything left to play for before the Big East Tournament.
Butler Men’s Basketball Schedule 2024-25
November 4: vs. Missouri State
November 8: vs. Austin Peay
November 11: vs. Western Michigan
November 15: against SMU
November 22: vs. Merrimack
November 28: vs. Northwestern in Tempe, Arizona, 7 p.m.
November 29: vs. Mississippi State or UNLV in Tempe, Arizona
December 3: vs. Eastern Illinois
December 7: in Houston
December 10: vs. North Dakota State
Dec 14: vs. Wisconsin at Gainbridge Fieldhouse
December 18: in Marquette
December 21: vs. UConn
January 1: vs. Villanova
January 4: in St. John’s
January 8: in Providence
January 11: vs. Creighton
January 15: vs. Seton Hall
January 21: at UConn
January 25: vs. DePaul
January 28: against Maquette
January 31: in Georgetown
February 5: at Seton Hall
February 8: against Providence
February 15: vs. Georgetown
February 18: to Xavier
February 22: at DePaul
February 26: vs. St. John’s
March 1: at Villanova
March 5: against Xavier
March 8: at Creighton
March 12-15: Big East Tournament in New York
This article was originally published on the Indianapolis Star: Butler men’s basketball schedule 2024-25: 3 things to know
