Butler started this season 15-1 with the lone loss coming at Baylor by just a single point. The body of work was so impressive that the Bulldogs climbed all the way into the top five of the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1, not to mention the Associated Press Top 25 poll, as recently as three weeks ago.
And that's when things turned south.
The Bulldogs lost a home game to Seton Hall and backed it with consecutive double-digit losses at DePaul and Villanova. It created a three-game losing streak. Then, after recording victories over Marquette and Georgetown, Butler lost at home this past weekend to Providence. So the Bulldogs woke up Wednesday having gone just 2-4 in their past six games, which made it reasonable to wonder if they would close this regular season looking like something closer to the team picked eighth in the preseason Big East poll.
Then they went out beat Villanova.
Credit Kamar Baldwin with the game-winner.
Kamar calls GAME. pic.twitter.com/MLDG7H3SsM
— Butler Basketball (@ButlerMBB) February 6, 2020
Final score: Butler 79, Villanova 76.
The victory served as a nice bounce-back and improved Butler to 6-4 in Quadrant 1 opportunities, 11-5 in Quadrant 1/Quadrant 2 opportunities with zero losses outside of the first two quadrants. So the Bulldogs jumped to No. 13 in Thursday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. Their next game is Sunday at Marquette, which is No. 18 in the Top 25 And 1. The Golden Eagles are 5-1 in their past six games with the lone loss in that stretch coming at Butler two weeks ago
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Filip Petrusev finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's 83-79 victory at San Francisco. The Zags' 15-game winning streak features 11 double-digit wins. | -- | 4-0 |
| 2 |  | Jared Butler finished with 20 points and three steals in Monday's 73-67 victory at Kansas State. The Bears' 19-game winning streak features victories over Kansas, Villanova and Butler. | -- | 3-1 |
| 3 |  | Matt Mitchell made four 3-pointers and finished with 28 points in Saturday's 80-68 victory over Utah State. The Aztecs are 23-0 for the first time in school history. | -- | 2-1 |
| 4 |  | Udoka Azubuike got 17 points and 12 rebounds off the bench in Monday's 69-58 victory over Texas. The Jayhawks will take a seven-game winning streak into Saturday's game at TCU. | -- | 5-0 |
| 5 |  | Jordan Nwora finished with 21 points and seven rebounds in Wednesday's 86-76 victory over Wake Forest. The Cardinals will take a nine-game winning streak into Saturday's game with Virginia. | -- | 2-1 |
| 6 |  | Obi Toppin finished with 18 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 70-56 victory over Fordham. Both of the Flyers' losses are overtime losses to schools also ranked in the Top 25 And 1. | -- | 4-0 |
| 7 |  | Patrick Williams got 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench in Monday's 65-59 victory over North Carolina. Florida State is 12-1 in its past 13 games with the lone loss in that stretch coming at Virginia. | -- | 4-1 |
| 8 |  | Oscar Tshiebwe finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds in Wednesday's 76-61 victory over Iowa State. West Virginia is 10-4 in Quadrant 1/Quadrant 2 opportunities with zero losses outside of the first two quadrants. | 1 | 2-1 |
| 9 |  | Vernon Carey finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's 63-55 victory at Boston College. The Blue Devils will take a four-game winning streak into Saturday's game at North Carolina. | 1 | 3-1 |
| 10 |  | Jalen Smith finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds in Tuesday's 56-51 victory over Rutgers. The Terrapins are 10-4 in Quadrant 1/Quadrant 2 opportunities with zero losses outside of the first quadrant. | 1 | 4-1 |
| 11 |  | Myles Powell finished with 34 points and seven rebounds in Wednesday's 78-71 victory at Georgetown. The Pirates will enter the weekend with a two-game lead in the Big East standings. | 1 | 2-2 |
| 12 |  | Samir Doughty made three 3-pointers and finished with 23 points in Tuesday's 79-76 overtime victory at Arkansas. Auburn is 10-2 in Quadrant 1/Quadrant 2 opportunities with zero losses outside of the first quadrant. | 1 | 4-0 |
| 13 |  | Kamar Baldwin finished with 17 points and eight rebounds in Wednesday's 79-76 victory over Villanova. The Bulldogs are 11-5 in Quadrant 1/Quadrant 2 opportunities with zero losses outside of the first two quadrants. | 5 | 3-1 |
| 14 |  | The Ducks missed 17 of the 24 3-pointers they attempted in Saturday's 70-64 loss at Stanford. Oregon still has a Pac-12-leading seven league wins. | -- | 4-0 |
| 15 |  | The Wildcats allowed Butler to shoot 57.7% from the field in Wednesday's 79-76 loss on the road. Villanova has lost consecutive games for the first time all season. | 7 | 3-3 |
| 16 |  | Lamar Stevens finished with 24 points and seven rebounds in Tuesday's 75-70 win at Michigan State. The Nittany Lions will take a five-game winning streak into Saturday's game with Minnesota. | -- | 4-0 |
| 17 |  | Nick Richards finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds in Tuesday's 80-72 victory over Mississippi State. The Wildcats are 5-1 in their past six games with the lone loss in that stretch coming at Auburn. | 3 | 4-0 |
| 18 |  | Markus Howard made five 3-pointers and finished with 31 points in Saturday's 76-72 victory over DePaul. Marquette is 5-1 in its past six games with the lone loss in that stretch coming in overtime at Butler. | 3 | 5-0 |
| 19 |  | The Illini allowed Iowa to shoot 50% from the field, and 43.5% from 3-point range, in Sunday's loss inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The loss snapped Illinois' seven-game winning streak. | 3 | 3-0 |
| 20 |  | Tyler Bey finished with 16 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 78-57 victory at USC. The Buffaloes are 9-4 in Quadrant 1/Quadrant 2 opportunities with only one loss coming outside of the first two quadrants. | 3 | 4-0 |
| 21 |  | The Bluejays missed 21 of the 27 3-pointers they attempted in Wednesay's 73-56 loss at Providence. The loss snapped Creighton's four-game winning streak. | 2 | 4-0 |
| 22 |  | The Hawkeyes allowed Purdue to shoot 63.1% from the field in Wednesday's 104-68 loss on the road. Iowa is 3-4 in true road games. | 5 | 5-0 |
| 23 |  | The Tigers allowed Vanderbilt to shoot 57.4% from the field in Wednesday's 99-90 loss on the road. LSU's resume features five losses to currently unranked teams. | 8 | 4-0 |
| 24 |  | Cassius Winston was the only Michigan State player to reach double-figures in points in Tuesday's 75-70 loss to Penn State. The Spartans are 3-4 in their past seven games. | -- | 4-1 |
| 25 |  | The Cougars allowed Cincinnati to shoot 45.5% from the field in Saturday's 64-62 loss on the road. The loss snapped Houston's five-game winning streak. | -- | 2-1 |
| 26 |  | Stone Gettings finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 66-49 victory at Washington State. The Wildcats are 4-1 in their past five games with the lone loss in that stretch coming at Arizona State. | -- | 2-1 |
