It’s been business as usual during Butler men’s basketball practice at the Power Plant, although the possible results could be even higher than the Grizzlies have already retained.
The Grizzlies start their road to the NJCAA National Tournament tonight in an 8:30 matchup against the Wallace State-Hanceville Lions, the Alabama state champions, at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
“They’re fairly fresh. We took some time off and our sophomores set a great example on how to approach this,” said Butler coach Michael Bargen. “I think they’ll be extremely excited once this championship tournament (starts) and I couldn’t be happier that they get this opportunity. I’m very pleased about the way they went about their business this past week.”
Bargen said the Grizzlies (29-5) will be looking almost at a mirror image of themselves when they face the Lions (29-4).
Wallace State scores an average of 81.6 points a game, while giving up only 57.5 points and allow only 35 percent shooting on the sesaon. Sophomore guard L.A. Farmer is their leading scorer with a 17.4 points a game.
“It will be a tough matchup for us,” Bargen said. “They are very similar to what we do, but they are a little slower and more deliberate. They are very successful in what they do and have a lot of wins in the last four years.”
The key for the Grizzlies to continue to play as they have all season, which has seen Butler win 16 of its past 17 contests.
“We’ve defended; we’ve rebounded; we’ve run our stuff,” Bargen said. “Our matchups for most people are difficult because we’re smaller, but we have athletes that can make up for our size differential. We just need to come out as the tougher team and be the aggressor for 40 minutes in every one of the games we play.”
El Dorado, Kan. —
