Men's Basketball Preview vs Independence (March 1st)

Independence at Butler

Wednesdat, March 1st | 7:30 PM Tipoff

The Power Plant | El Dorado, Kansas

Watch Live: butlergrizzlies.com/watchlive

Dennis Higgins Radio Broadcast: N/A

Live Stats: tinyurl.com/yx2d2u3c

Massey Ratings Score Prediction (masseyratings.com): Indy 69, Butler 76

Other Massey Ratings Insights: Chance to win %: Indy 27%, Butler 73%, 

Betting line: Butler -7.5, Game O/U: 145.5 points

Notes compiled by Wyatt Ebersole

Series Since 2011: Independence leads 11-9 | Last Meeting: January 14th, 2023: Butler won 84-81

Opening notes:

• The Butler Grizzlies will play their regular season finale on Wednesday at home against the Independence Pirates
• Masseyratings.com rates the Grizzlies as the #31 ranked team in the NJCAA and Independence as #130
• The Grizzlies have lost five straight regular season finales dating back to the 2016-17 season
• The Grizzlies are playing to keep their hopes of getting a first-round bye in the Region VI Playoffs alive
• The Grizzlies are looking for the season sweep of the Pirates for the first time since the 2014-2015 season as Butler won the first matchup of the year on January 11th, 84-81 at Indy
• Butler is 6-4 in their last ten games and have lost three of their last five
• Indy is 3-7 in their last ten games and have lost six of their last seven
• Last time vs Independence: The Grizzlies overcame a double-digit second half deficit on the road to stun the Pirates on their home floor
• Butler is 12-2 playing against unranked teams this season (only losses are vs Colby and at NW Tech)
• Butler is 49-8 at home since Kyle Fisher took over as head coach of the Grizzlies
• Garden City is in their first year in the Rusty Elmore era and they sit at 20-7 overall in his first season as a Broncbuster
• Butler is 11-2 at home this year, have won seven straight, and have won nine of the last ten in the Power Plant
• The Grizzlies are 11-2 this year when playing on a Saturday and are 6-2 away from home on Saturdays this year

Last action for the Grizzlies 

Saturday, February 25th | Butler 77, Garden 78 Final

• The Butler Men suffered a heartbreaking loss on the road to Garden City
• The loss made it so that the Grizzlies no longer control their own path to a bye in the Region VI Playoffs
• The Grizzlies overcame another double-digit deficit, but could not pull the game out
• The Butler Men were issued three technical fouls in the game that led to five big Garden City free throws
• Despite the loss, the Grizzlies had their best shooting night (47.4%) from the field since their road win over Hutch on February 4th where they shot 58.2%
• The Butler Men made 17 free throws in the game, their seventh straight game making at least 17 shots from the charity stripe

Scouting the Pirates

• The Pirates are in their second season under their former assistant coach Justin Mann
• Indy has three players averaging double figures in scoring this year. Those being Johan Nziemi (14.7), Josh Smith (13.2), and Kam Parker (12.7)
• Indy is fourth in the conference in field goal percentage at 45.9%
• The Pirates allow the third most points per game of teams in the conference at 79.7
• Indy is 4-9 on the road this season, but have won three of their last five road games

Notes about the series

• Indy leads the series 11-9 since 2011 and the Butler has won three of the last five
• The Grizzlies are 4-2 against Indy in the Kyle Fisher era
• Butler is looking for their first sweep of Indy since the 2014-15 season
• Butler is 4-6 at home against Indy since 2011
• Butler has won three straight games at home against the Pirates

NO LEAD IS SAFE WHEN THE GRIZZLIES ARE BEHIND

• The Butler Men have overcome four double-digit, second half deficits this season 

A Grizzly W would…

• Improve them to 22-8 overall and 16-8 in conference play
• Potentially give them a first-round bye in the Region VI Playoffs
• Avoid a two-game losing streak
• Break their trend of losing their final regular season game in a season
• Be their third win in their last four matchups with Independence
• Be their second straight year winning at least 16 games in conference play

A Grizzly L would…

• Drop them to 21-9 overall and 15-9 in conference play
• End their chances of a first-round bye
• Be their sixth straight year of losing their regular season finale
• Cement the Grizzlies in fifth place in the final conference standings.

Looking ahead

If the Grizzlies do not get a first-round bye, they will be the #5 seed and they will host the #12 seed (likely NW Tech) on Saturday, likely sometime in the early evening. If the Grizzlies manage to get a bye, they will have a bye on Saturday, as they would be the #4 seed, and would play sometime early next week against either the #5 seed (Garden City) or the #12 seed (likely NW Tech). Either way, the Grizzlies will have just one more home game left this season.