UL Monroe @ Butler preview

Butler returns to action from a one-week holiday break Saturday to host Louisiana Monroe in its final non-conference game before the start of Big East play. The only blemish on the 11th-ranked Bulldogs' record is a 53-52 loss at No. 6 Baylor earlier this month.

Butler handled Purdue in the Crossroads Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Dec. 21, posting a 70-61 victory while becoming the first team this season to reach 70 points against the Boilermakers and also to outrebound them. Saturday's game will be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse, where the Bulldogs own the nation's longest non-conference home winning streak at 57. They've climbed to No. 3 in the latest NCAA NET rankings and to their highest spot in the coaches poll since January 2017. The home win streak appears unlikely to end against the Warhawks, who have lost four in a row and are 0-3 on the road.

TV: 4 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

ABOUT ULM (4-6): Indianapolis native Michael Ertel, the team's leading scorer at 16.7 points per game, returns home to face Butler. Along with fellow backcourt player JD Williams (16 points), the two have accounted for 50 percent of the Warhawks' scoring this season. Louisiana-Monroe's strengths are its defense (63.7 points allowed) and its 3-point shooting (36 percent)

ABOUT BUTLER (11-1): Three players - Kamar Baldwin, Bryce Nze and Sean McDermott - have combined to score more than half the team's points this season. Baldwin, a preseason All-Big East selection, averages 14.8 per game and has 1,631 career points, McDermott has made a team-best 27 3-pointers and Nze leads the team with 6.8 rebounds per game. Point guard Aaron Thompson has started 77 straight games and gives the Bulldogs an experienced leader who rarely commits turnovers and contributes a club-high 5.8 assists.

TIP-INS

1. The Bulldogs are fourth nationally in fewest points allowed at 55.1 per game and have yielded more than 62 only once this season.

2. Butler commits only 10.4 turnovers per game - seventh-fewest nationally.

3. The Warhawks' last four losses (three at home) were by a combined 16 points.

PREDICTION: Butler 77, ULM 51