Bulldogs stay hot, knock off UW-Milwaukee

No. 14 Butler wasn't perfect on Saturday afternoon at Hinkle Fieldhouse, but the Bulldogs did enough to get a 72-56 victory over UW-Milwaukee before an announced crowd of 4698.
Everybody has heard about college basketball's "Fab Freshmen"- Eric Gordon, Kevin Love, O.J. Mayo, Derek Rose. But it's time to add a new name to that list: Butler's Matt Howard.
Howard controlled the Panthers' defense all afternoon, scoring 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting and seven rebounds.
"He really puts the defense and the officials in a tough position because he throws himself at the rim," Panthers coach Rob Jeter said. "When he does that there is going to be contact, and it forces the official to make a call. He's a terrific player."
Howard's presence was pivotal during a first half run that drew separation from the streaking Panthers. Butler outscored the Panthers 14-0 during a 5 and half minute stretch where Howard scored eight of his points. The Bulldogs went into the locker room with a comfortable 37-19 advantage.
Senior Mike Green leads Butler in scoring (15.6 ppg), but he made sure to get everybody else involved on Saturday. Green scored just 10 points, but he added a team-high four assists and seven rebounds.
Butler now heads to Cleveland State on Thursday where it will battle for the Horizon League lead. Cleveland State is 4-0 in conference play.
OTHER NOTES:
- Butler set season-highs in field goals made (28), field goals attempted (62), rebounds (41) and fewest turnovers (5)
- A.J. Graves got out of his shooting slump a little bit by connecting on three 3-point field goals. Graves had hit just 2 from beyond-the-arc in the previous five Horizon League games. He scored 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting in the game.
-Pete Campbell made good use of his 20 minutes but hitting 6-of-8 field goals including 3-of-5 from the 3-point line, scoring 15 points in the process.
-Butler played everybody on its roster and 10 players scored.
-UW-Milwaukee's Marcus Skinner saw limited minutes because of foul trouble. He played just 13 minutes and scored only 2 points.
-Paige Paulson led the Panthers with 14 points on 4-of-7 3-pointers (12 of his points came in the second half)
-Milwaukee was coming off a comeback victory over Valparaiso on Thursday night. Butler was also in action on Thursday, defeating Wisconsin-Green Bay at home.