College basketball’s longest winning streak is no more, and the cause of its demise is a familiar one. It’s Butler.
The No. 18 Bulldogs took down No. 1 Villanova Wednesday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse, grinding out possession after possession and stymieing the second-most efficient offense in the country to claim a memorable 66-58 win.
Butler officials had sent a notice to the student body on Tuesday asking them not to storm the court in the event of an upset. That request, of course, was not heeded, as fans spilled onto the court as they so often have over the past decade:
#ButlerMBB fans storm the court after knocking off #1 #villanova 66-58. #ncaa #Butler @IndyStarSports pic.twitter.com/ggdzYDa868— Matt Kryger (@MattKryger) January 5, 2017
The top-ranked Wildcats and Bulldogs went back and forth all game, but in the final minutes, “Hinkle Magic” seemed to take over. Butler got stop after stop, and with the undefeated visitors threatening to make a customary late charge, freshman point guard Kamar Baldwin picked the pocket of National Player of the Year frontrunner Josh Hart and spun in an acrobatic layup to push the Bulldogs’ lead to six.
Butler also made every single one of its 15 free throws, including 11 in the second half to seal the upset.
The Wildcats had won 20 consecutive games dating back to last year’s national championship run, but fell to 14-1 with Wednesday’s loss.
They were frustrated all night by a stifling Butler defense. The Bulldogs held Villanova, who had been averaging 1.20 points per possession on the season, to just 0.97 per trip, the first team to hold the defending national champs to under a point per possession since Kansas in the Elite Eight last year.
That frustration seemed to boil over during a four-minute first-half drought. After Mikal Bridges missed a foul-line jumper, Jay Wright, either thinking the ball was tipped or Bridges was fouled, went ballistic. He had to be corralled and held back by players and coaches as he fumed at the refs. He was assessed a technical foul.
He mad pic.twitter.com/p3T5vpSMJx— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) January 5, 2017
Villanova shot just 6-for-26 from three, well below their season average of 38.7 percent.
Butler didn’t have a single player score more than 13 points, but was balanced offensively, and got massive buckets from Baldwin, Kelan Martin and Kethan Savage down the stretch as it pulled away in the game’s final four minutes.
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