The Butler Bulldogs continued making NCAA bracket mince-meat Thursday night, topping Wisconsin 61-54 to continue their march from the eighth seed toward a second consecutive Elite Eight berth. The Badgers fought back after Butler went on a 12-3 run to open the second half, nearly erasing a 20-point lead, but Butler held on in the closing minutes to advance to another chance at an NCAA tournament upset, against No. 2-seeded Florida.
Butler continues to scrape by in a series of stereotypical March Madness nail-biters, which isn't exactly the way to convince the powers-that-watch that you're for real, but it makes for excellent TV, and that 20-point-lead just mustn't have been Butler enough for their tastes. (They'll have to lecture Arizona about it.)
Matt Howard led Butler with 20 points, including nine free throws, and 12 rebounds. Wisconsin shot just 17-56 from the field, with Jordan Taylor leading the team with 22 points on 6-19 shooting. Jon Leuer, who averaged 18.7 points per game for Wisconsin in the regular season, was just 1-12.