Morehead St. @ Butler preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 19, 2017 ) Morehead St. 69, Butler 85

Kamar Baldwin is a known quantity but how this season ultimately goes for Butler, which will face visiting Morehead State on Friday in a campus game of the Hall of Fame Classic, will be dictated by Bryce Nze and Sean McDermott. The forwards have been everything the Bulldogs, who will play the Eagles for the second time after facing them two seasons ago, could have asked for and more.

Baldwin is a 1,500-point scorer who could score 20 a night if he so desired, but this season it seems he would rather share the ball. Nze, a transfer from Milwaukee, McDermott and forward Jordan Tucker have been the beneficiaries and as a result, the Bulldogs are off to their best start under coach LaVall Jordan. "Our seniors and our upperclassmen right now, their leadership is in a really good place," Jordan, who went 37-31 in his first two seasons at Butler, told the media. "They're owning their team. They're holding each other accountable." The 4-0 start by the Eagles from the Ohio Valley Conference couldn't stand up to SEC squad Missouri as they mustered only 52 points, by far their lowest output of the season for coach Preston Spradlin.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

ABOUT MOREHEAD STATE (4-1): Jordan Walker, Justin Thomas and Djimon Henson will enjoy a homecoming Friday. Walker, a guard who is leading the team in scoring for the third straight year with 13.8 per game this season, attended Cathedral High School while Henson, who had one of his better college games at Butler with 22 points and five 3-pointers in 2017, went to Lawrence North High School. Thomas, a transfer from Northern Illinois who is filling the stat sheet with 9.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 3.8 steals, prepped at Pike High School.

ABOUT BUTLER (4-0): Nze demonstrated he could do two things well in his time with Milwaukee, where he was recruited to play by Jordan, who spent one season with the Panthers before coming to his alma mater, and those were shooting and rebounding, and it has carried over to this season. The junior has shot better than 57 percent in each of his three seasons and after coming up with 8.5 rebounds per game last season, he stands at eight this season. McDermott has been lights out from 3-point range, hitting at a better than 40 percent clip the last two seasons and 10-of-17 so far this season.

TIP-INS

1. Butler junior Aaron Thompson averages only 7.3 points but his 7.3 assists were tied for 12th in the nation entering Thursday.

2. Morehead State shares the Ohio Valley Conference with 205 rebounds (Tennessee Tech).

3. Baldwin had 12 points and eight rebounds as Butler defeated Morehead State 85-69 at home in December 2017.

PREDICTION: Butler 81, Morehead State 60