Jair Bolden made five 3-pointers en route to a game-high 21 points and Bryce Nze snagged 14 rebounds as visiting Butler earned its first road win of the season on Tuesday night, defeating DePaul 67-53 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
Butler (5-7, 4-5 Big East) led by as many as 25 points in the second half and now has won consecutive games for the first time this season. The Bulldogs withstood a late charge from the Blue Demons, who forced Butler into 13 second-half turnovers and 18 in the game.
Bryce Golden, Myles Tate and Chuck Harris scored 10 points apiece for the Bulldogs, and four players contributed at least three assists.
DePaul had several opportunities to cut the deficit to 10 points or less down the stretch, but sputtered as it managed just six points and didn't hit a field goal over the final 5:26. The Blue Demons (2-5, 0-5) shot 33.3 percent compared to 50 percent for Butler.
DePaul has lost five of six overall and six in a row in regular season conference play. The Blue Demons topped Xavier in their Big East tournament opener March 11 before the COVID-19 pandemic suspended the remainder of the season.
The team's most recent Big East regular season victory came on March 3, 2020 against visiting Marquette.
Kobe Elvis scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half to boost the Blue Demons, while Charlie Moore followed with 11. Romeo Weems had five steals for DePaul, and Pauly Paulicap grabbed eight rebounds.
Butler led 35-17 at halftime, shooting 50 percent from the floor while limiting DePaul to 25 percent shooting.
The Blue Demons trailed by as many as 23 in the first half.
Butler grabbed a 14-7 edge in the all-time series with its second straight victory over the Blue Demons. The Bulldogs are 8-4 in games played at DePaul.
--Field Level Media
Butler | DePaul | |
Jair Bolden 21 | Scoring | Kobe Elvis 12 |
Myles Tate 4 | Assists | Kobe Elvis 2 |
Bryce Nze 14 | Rebounds | Pauly Paulicap 8 |
Jair Bolden 2 | Free Throws Made | Charlie Moore 4 |
Jair Bolden 1 | Steals | Romeo Weems 5 |
N/A | Blocks | Romeo Weems 2 |