On Wednesday, Villanova will look to bounce back from the loss to Creighton. Getting back to the winning ways won’t be easy, as the Wildcats are heading to Hinkle Fieldhouse to take on a defensively stout Butler team.

The ‘Cats were able to get past the Bulldogs in the first meeting between the teams, 76-61 at the Finn. But playing in Hinkle is always a challenge, as Butler (17-5, 5-4) is 10-2 at home this season. Adding to the difficulty, the Bulldogs are also trying to bounce back from a loss, a 65-61 defeat at the hands of Providence last Saturday.

Since the loss to ‘Nova, Butler has gone 2-1 and finds itself fifth in the Big East, two games back of Villanova.

As we did with Creighton, we’ll simply look for any significant changes in the numbers since the last meeting between the teams rather than rehashing a bunch of information we’ve already touched on. If you want to get a look at the full picture on Butler, you can check out our game preview of the first matchup.

The Bulldogs entered the last meeting scoring 68.7 points per game and allowing just 57.1. They come into Wednesday’s matchup scoring 69.0 and allowing 59.9.

Not much has changed in terms of the individual numbers for Butler. One thing worth noting is Aaron Thompson, who injured his wrist in the last meeting with Villanova and has missed the last three games, is listed as a game-time decision.

Butler has seen it’s KenPom numbers dip a bit. The Bulldogs have fallen from 11th to 16th overall, from 26th to 31st offensively, and from 17th to 23rd defensively. They entered the last meeting ranked 29th in two-point percentage and 76th in three-point percentage and those numbers have fallen to 43rd and 115th respectively. They’ve also fallen from 7th to 32nd in three-point defense but have improved from 40th to 19th in two-point defense.

The Synergy numbers mimic the changes we see in the KenPom numbers, with slight regression at each end of the court. Offensively, Butler scores 0.935 points per possession, down from 0.941 with a drop to the 80th percentile from the 84th. Defensively, the Bulldogs give up 0.795 PPP, up from 0.771, with a dip to the 93rd percentile from the 96th.

As for the keys to the game, there’s not much reason to change them from the last meeting. In that game, we highlighted the three-point line (‘Nova was +12), the FT line (‘Nova was +21), the turnover battle (‘Nova lost it 6-5, but limiting the TO’s to six was good enough), and the pace, with 70 being the magic number (‘Nova scored 76). I think it’s pretty safe to think that those numbers will be key again on Wednesday.

One thing ‘Nova will have to do is lock in defensively again. Really from the Kansas game up through the St. John’s game, the ‘Cats had been playing really good defense, much better than we had seen through the early part of the season. That went away in the Creighton game, as lapses really hurt the ‘Cats. It’s widely accepted that defense travels better than offense, and ‘Nova will need to get back to the late December to mid-January defense and not have a repeat of last Saturday’s defensive performance.

Playing in Hinkle is never a picnic, and this is another huge game for both teams. A Butler win would pull the Bulldogs to within a game of ‘Nova in the Big East standings, provide a huge boost to their seeding potential for the Big East tournament, and add a nice point on their resume. Conversely, a ‘Nova win would put another Big East foe comfortably in the rear-view mirror, keep the ‘Cats within striking distance of Seton Hall for the regular season title, and would give them their own resume addition. Neither team wants to lose a second straight game, and a loss would be particularly tough for ‘Nova with Seton Hall and Marquette looming next week.

The intensity should be sky-high as we wait to see how the ‘Cats respond both to a loss and to a hostile environment. The game is scheduled for 6:30 on FS1.