Basketball Game Preview: Butler Bulldogs vs. Josey Eagles

Butler is 1-9 against Josey since February of 2022 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Butler Bulldogs will challenge the Josey Eagles at 6:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Butler is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Laney as Butler made off with a 66-42 victory. Given the Bulldogs' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia basketball rankings (they are ranked 32nd, while the Wildcats are ranked 176th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Josey came tearing into Tuesday's matchup with eight straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 38 points), and they left with even more momentum. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat the Bears 72-26. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 47-9.

Josey's win came from a few key players Butler will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Kerri Fluellen, who went 7-for-9 en route to 17 points in addition to five rebounds and five steals. She is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed three or more in each of the last 54 games she's played dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Za'Miyah Jenkins z, who dropped a double-double with 12 points and 15 boards.

Josey pushed their record up to 22-3 with the win, which was their 11th straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.2 points over those games. As for Butler, their victory bumped their record up to 19-6.

Butler came up short against Josey in their previous matchup on Thursday, falling 66-58. Can Butler avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.