Hoosier Gameday: Butler vs. Indiana

1. Guarding the 3-point line -- Butler hits at a 38.3 percent clip from beyond the arc, and at 5-2 in the Crossroads Classic it will be playing in a comfortable, familiar setting. Indiana's defensive improvement will be tested.

2. Jordan Tucker -- The Duke transfer makes his Butler debut on Saturday and his college sample size is small. His high school tape shows a capable shooter who also has the length and athleticism to match up with Romeo Langford.

3. Paint production -- Establishing a presence in the paint early would go a long way for Indiana in this game. It goes hand in hand with defending the 3-point line - if Indiana can't defend and can't get easy buckets in the paint, it could make for a long evening in Indianapolis.

David Woods, The Indianapolis Star: On downtown Indy stage, Butler is Indiana's college basketball headliner

Brunk needed little reminder about the last time Romeo Langford was opposite his team.

Langford, then a sophomore at New Albany, scored 46 points in an 82-64 victory over Brunk’s Southport Cardinals in the 2016 Class 4A semistate. There was a near-capacity crowd of about 8,000 at Richmond.

“Romeo went off. I mean, that was an awesome environment,” Brunk said. “That was about as cool an Indiana high school environment you could get, outside of Southport Fieldhouse."

Jordan said Indiana’s two freshman starters, Langford and Robert Phinisee, “play above their years.” Jordan said the speed of the college game is usually a difficult adjustment.

Alex Bozich, Inside the Hall: What to expect: Butler

Sophomore guard Aaron Thompson has been starting alongside Baldwin and Jorgensen and has been a little more turnover prone than Jordan would like. Thompson’s turnover percentage of 27.2 is higher than his assist rate (26.6), but he’s doing a solid job finishing on 2s (61.3 percent).

Junior guard Henry Baddley is in the rotation off the bench and is a capable 3-point shooter (35.7 percent). Baddley is fifth on the team in scoring at 7.1 points per game.

Junior Sean McDermott is the Butler starter at the four and is coming off a huge game against Northern Illinois. A career 41.5 percent 3-point shooter, McDermott tied a career-high with seven 3s in the win over the Huskies and is third on the team in the scoring at 12.1 points per game. Like Jorgensen, McDermott thrives in spot up situations, according to Synergy. He’s scoring 1.21 points per possession on spot ups, which ranks in the 85th percentile national.