GAME NOTES: With each team coming off a loss to start Big East Conference play, the Butler Bulldogs and 15th-ranked St. John's Red Storm will square off in a conference battle at Carnesecca Arena on Saturday.

Butler had won two straight games over UT Martin (64-37) and Belmont (67-56) before the Big East opener at Villanova (67-55 loss) derailed the Bulldogs' train. Still, Butler comes into the contest with a 10-4 mark on the season. The team will be under Chris Holtmann's leadership going forward. He served as interim head coach when Brandon Miller took a leave of absence three months ago. That interim tag was removed on Friday.

St. John's saw a seven-game win streak come to an end in the team's conference opener against Seton Hall, 78-67, which set the Red Storm back to 11-2 on the new season. But with a 9-1 record at home, St. John's hopes to get back in the win column against Butler.

St. John's owns a 3-0 all-time series lead over Butler, and is 2-0 against the Bulldogs as members of the Big East. The two sides squared off twice last year as conference rivals, with the Red Storm winning both contests.

Villanova only owned a four-point advantage over Butler at halftime in the Bulldogs' last outing, but the Wildcats dominated defensively in the second half, holding Butler to 27.6 percent shooting from the floor to build on their first-half advantage. Andrew Chrabascz and Alex Barlow each scored 12 points to lead the Bulldogs in the loss, while Kellen Dunham chipped in with 10 points. The Bulldogs shot 35.5 percent from the floor for the game.

Butler's scoring defense has been stellar this season, as the Bulldogs enter this clash with St. John's allowing just 56.9 ppg to opponents. Things haven't been so bad on the offensive end of things either. Dunham leads Butler in scoring with a 16.1 ppg mark, followed by Roosevelt Jones's 11.0 ppg. As a unit, the Bulldogs are netting 70.1 ppg this season, and are shooting 44.5 percent from the field. Kameron Woods tops Butler in rebounding at 8.8 boards per outing, and Jones owns a 4.1 apg margin to lead his team.

Seton Hall went into halftime with a five-point lead over St. John's, and the Pirates just kept slowly piling onto that advantage in the second half en route to handing the Red Storm their first loss since late November. D'Angelo Harrison scored a team-high 25 points to lead St. John's, while Phil Greene IV contributed 15 points in the losing effort. Rysheed Jordan came off the bench to tally 11 points to round out the group of Red Storm double-digit scorers.

Like Butler, St. John's has relied heavily on a good scoring defense to get the job done. The Red Storm allow opponents to net just 59.7 ppg this season, while they average 71.4 ppg themselves on 44.6 percent shooting. Harrison leads the charge in terms of scoring, owning a 19.5 ppg mark. Jordan is second on the squad, netting 14.0 ppg, followed by Greene's 11.5 ppg and Sir'Dominic Pointer's 10.9 ppg. Chris Obekpa tops the squad in rebounding, grabbing 8.5 boards per game. Pointer adds in 7.5 rpg with a team-leading 41 assists on the season.

Butler could be in danger of losing two straight Big East games at the commencement of conference play, as St. John's combines a talented offense with a very strong, very big defensive lineup. If Butler can't control the boards in this contest, the Bulldogs will be sent home with another game in the loss column.