Getty Kamar Baldwin and the Butler Bulldogs will visit the Saint Louis Billikens on Saturday.
The Butler Bulldogs will visit the Saint Louis Billikens on Saturday in a clash of 5-1 squads.
The game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. ET. While it won’t be broadcast nationally on television anywhere in the US, you can still watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone or streaming device via ESPN+, the new digital streaming service from ESPN that broadcasts dozens of college basketball games every week.
You can sign up for a free 7-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.
If you can’t watch live, all games–including Butler vs Saint Louis–that are streamed on ESPN+ are also available to be watched afterwards on-demand via ESPN.com or the ESPN app.
Preview
The Billikens opened the season with four consecutive victories before falling to the Pittsburgh Panthers at the Barclays Center Classic on November 21.
“They really punked us … it’s crazy I’m saying this about our team, but I think they out physicaled us tonight,” guard Jordan Goodwin said after the 75-73 defeat, according to The University News.
The sophomore led the team with 16 points to go with eight boards, four assists, and a pair of steals.
Saint Louis bounced back four days later with a 73-61 dismantling of the Central Arkansas Bears at home.
The Billikens are nearly unrecognizable from the 17-16 team they were a season ago. Not only did their top two scorers — Javon Bess and Goodwin — return, they added a top-75 recruit in big man Carte’Are Gordon and a pair of graduate transfers in Tramaine Isabell Jr. out of Drexel and Dion Wiley from Maryland.
All three newcomers figure heavily in the team’s rotation. Isabell is second on the team in scoring and assists, and tied for the team lead in steals. Gordon leads the team in blocks and field-goal percentage. And Wiley is second in three-pointers made.
“Guys aren’t clueless,” Butler coach LaVall Jordan said, according to The Indianapolis Star. “They pay attention to the scores and know how good [the Billikens] are.”
The Bulldogs’ lone loss thus far came against the Dayton Flyers at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. They won their next two games in the tournament, over the Middle Tennessee Lightning and the Florida Gators.
“I tell them all the time: Game times are set,” Jordan said, per the Star. “Two boxers don’t walk into the ring like one’s surprised there’s going to be a fight. There’s going to be a competition. You’ve got to be ready for the emotional piece of it. Sometimes, whether it’s on the road or a neutral site … it’s probably a lot easier at home, there’s a lot of emotion behind you.
“So you’ve got to get your own self started.”
Saint Louis will be tasked with limiting the potent backcourt duo of Kamar Baldwin and Paul Jorgensen. Baldwin, a junior, leads Butler in points (19.7), rebounds (6), and assists (5.5) per game. Jorgensen, a senior who sat out the 2016-17 season to transfer from George Washington University, is adding 18.5 points per game and hitting a team-leading 3.5 threes per contest, shooting 44.7 percent from deep.