(Photo: Robert Scheer/IndyStar)
INDIANAPOLIS – It began with students lined outside Hinkle Fieldhouse waiting for entry, and LaVall Jordan delivering donuts and leading cheers.
It ended with No. 24 Butler treating Florida as if it were an old visitor from the Horizon League rather than a recent nemesis, and with players walking into the Dawg Pound to acknowledge support.
Aaron Thompson and Sean McDermott scored 16 points each, and the Bulldogs shot 52% en route to a 76-62 victory before a sellout crowd of 9,303, a Hinkle Fieldhouse record since the latest renovation.
Thompson, a junior point guard, controlled play on both ends of the floor.