INDIANAPOLIS – The Georgetown University men's basketball team was able to cut the deficit to single digits with six minutes to play but it was not enough as Butler held on for the 74-64 win at Hinkle Fieldhouse. With the setback, the Hoyas slip to 7-5 on the season and 0-1 in BIG EAST play. With the win, Butler extends its BIG EAST-leading win streak to eight and improves to 10-2 on the year with a 1-0 mark in league action.
 
ON THE RECORD
"Today the more aggressive team won. I like the team that Thad and his team put together. They have a lot of pieces that fit. They have some older dudes that, in a short period of time, collectively have a great chemistry and the better team won today. We were not the team I expected to show up. We have to be a lot better guarding the ball one-on-one. I thought we had to be a lot better physically on the ball and that's what they did well - they drove the ball, they did what they do. I thought we had them scouted well - the better team definitely won today. I don't want our players to get discouraged, we still have another game." - Head Coach Ed Cooley
 
HOYA HIGHLIGHTS

• Dontrez Styles led all scorers and a trio of Hoyas with 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting including a 3-for-5 effort from deep. He added six rebounds and one assist.
• Jayden Epps, in his first game back after missing a pair due to illness, came off the bench to tally 12 points on three made buckets and a 5-for-6 performance from the foul line.
• Supreme Cook managed 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting while grabbing a squad-best seven rebounds.
• Rowan Brumbaugh and Ismael Massoud paced the offense with three assists apiece.
• The Hoyas shot 38.7% (24-62) for the game, knocking down seven 3-pointers while allowing the Bulldogs to shoot 45.8% (27-59), but held Butler to 22.2% (4-18) from deep.
• Butler owned the battle on the glass, outrebounding the Hoyas 39-27.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Both teams kept it close to start but an 8-2 Butler run put the home team up 12-6 with 13:35 to play. The Hoyas cut it back to a one-possession game following a pair of layups from Styles and Cook.
• Despite both teams going cold from the field, Butler managed to pull ahead with multiple trips to the charity stripe, taking a nine-point lead (25-16) with 5:41 remaining in the frame.
• A triple from Drew Fielder made it a two-possession game but BU knocked down another pair of free throws to extend it back to eight. Six-straight points from Epps, a jumper bookended by a pair of free throws on both sides, cut the deficit to two (27-25, 3:22) before Butler reeled off 13 unanswered. GU closed the frame on a jumper, trailing 40-27 at half.
• Styles opened the stanza with a jumper but every bit of offense the Hoyas found, the Bulldogs had a retort. After the squads traded free throws, a Massoud 3-pointer cut the deficit to 10 (46-36). The teams continued to trade buckets but the Bulldogs strung together a couple of stops to take the 52-38 lead forcing a GU timeout.
• The Butler lead ballooned to as many as 16 but eight unanswered from the Hoyas fueled by a pair of Styles jumpers sandwiching an Epps bucket closed the gap to eight (60-52, 6:57).
• It was as close as the Hoyas would get with Butler taking the 74-64 victory at the final whistle.

 
UP NEXT
The Hoyas remain on the road on Friday, December 22 when they face the No. 6 Marquette University Golden Eagles at Fiserv Forum to close the three-game road trip in the Midwest. Tipoff in Milwaukee is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on FS1 with Jeff Levering calling the play-by-play and LaPhonso Ellis providing analysis. The radio call of Rich Chvotkin, in his 50th season as the Voice of the Hoyas, can be heard locally on 99.1 FM and nationally on the SiriusXM app.