By Nick Jenkinson-SCINN Sports Director <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the first time in 6 years the Indiana Hoosiers and the Butler Bulldogs Men\u2019s Basketball programs will meet on the hardwood tonight at 6:30 PM Inside Historic Hinkle Fieldhouse wish the game televised in the Indianapolis market on WISH-TV Channel 8. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indiana and Butler have met 55 times with the Hoosiers winning 40 of those meetings. Indiana has won the last two meetings both in Indianapolis and has a 6-4 record against the Bulldogs since the turn of the century. This will be the first time since November 27, 1993, that Indiana and Butler will meet in Hinkle Fieldhouse as Butler beat Indiana 75-71. Indiana won the last meeting on December 19, 2020, 68-60 in Bankers Life Fieldhouse now Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Hoosiers and Bulldogs met every other year from 2012-20 as part of the Crossroads Classic in a two-game event played in Indianapolis that included Purdue and Notre Dame. Indiana is 14-6 against Butler in Hinkle Fieldhouse which opened in 1928. Butler\u2019s last trip to Bloomington was November 27, 2011, when the Hoosiers won 75-59.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Head Coach Darian Devries starts his second season in charge of the Hoosiers as the Hoosiers were 18-14 overall and 9-11 in the Big Ten a season ago. Coach DeVries had to put a whole new team together with no returning scholarship players and this year he has two returning scholarship players with Freshman Trent Sisley and Fifth Year Sam Alexis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alexis was granted an extra year of eligibility after a long offseason battle when the NCAA Allowed all athletes a fifth year of eligibility but did not include the class of 2022 who then filed a lawsuit and after a lot of back in forth in the Court system in both Tennessee and Indiana Alexis won his case and now cleared to play for the Hoosiers this season after joining the Hoosiers for the FISU America Games Tournament in Peru in July in which Indiana represented the United States and won the Gold Medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Hoosiers brought in 6-11 Aiden Sherill from Alabama, 7-2 Samet Yigitoglu from SMU, Jaeden Mustaf from Georgia Tech, Markus Burton from Notre Dame, Bryce Linsday from Villanova Darren Harris from Duke, Justin Monden from Maryland Eastern Shore and Ben Winker from Cal-State Fullerton. Indiana brought in four freshmen 6-8 Forward Vaughn Karvala from Wisconsin, 6-8 Forward Trevor Manhertz from North Carolina, 6-11 Clemens Sokolov from Germany and 6-4 Guard Prince Alexander-Moody from Maryland. The Hoosiers return walk ons Drew Snivley from Zionsville Jordan Rayford and Ian Stephens from New Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indiana added a lot of size, depth and quick guard play and will be a team that will stretch the floor and have players who are able to shoot the ball from the outside, score inside and cause a lot of problems on defensive end and in transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Butler has a new coach in Ronald Nored who played for the Bulldogs from 2008-12 and was a two-time Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 and 2012. Nored was part of the Bulldogs Back-to-Back National Runner Up Teams in 2010 and 2011 under Brad Stevens. Nored has moved up the coaching ranks as he was the Head Coach at Brownsburg High School from 2012-13 then moving on to the Maine Red Claws in the G League as an Assistant Coach from 2013-14, Nored then joined the Boston Celtics as his former coach Brad Stevens gave him an assistant coaching position and player development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nored went back to college to be an assistant coach at Northern Kentucky from 2015-16 and then went back to the G League to be the head coach of the Long Island Nets from 2016-18. Nored went to the NBA as an assistant coach with the Charlotte Hornets from 2018-21, the Indiana Pacers from 2021-23 and the Atlanta Hawks from 2023-26. Nored returned to his alma mater replacing Thad Matta on March 25, 2026, who announced his retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Butler finished 16-16 overall and 7-13 in the Big East in Matta\u2019s final season. Nored returns just one player who played in more than 20 games in Drayton Jones who is a fourth-year senior who started all 32 games averaging 6.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 19.5 minutes per game. Butler brought in a five-player transfer class, headlined by third-year guard Eduardo Klafke (Ole Miss), third-year junior forward Treyson Anderson (North Dakota State), and second-year forward Samis Calderon (Kansas).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though this one will not count it will be a fun atmosphere in Hinkle Fieldhouse as it\u2019s been a long time since the Hoosiers have played in the historic venue and six years since they last played each other. With the new rules that you can play other division 1 teams in exhibitions hopefully these two teams will play each other every year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Nick Jenkinson-SCINN Sports Director For the first time in 6 years the Indiana Hoosiers and the Butler Bulldogs Men\u2019s Basketball programs will meet on the hardwood tonight at 6:30 PM Inside Historic Hinkle Fieldhouse wish the game televised in the Indianapolis market on WISH-TV Channel 8. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Indiana and Butler have met 55 …<\/p>\n