Butler hoping Andrew Chrabascz can go tonight vs. Hoyas

The Butler basketball team might get Andrew Chrabascz back Tuesday night. It won't be a moment too soon. The schedule is turning in a difficult direction.

The 21st-ranked Bulldogs, who are in second place in the Big East, host Georgetown Tuesday at Hinkle Fieldhouse before playing at No. 24 Providence on Saturday. Those two teams are tied for third, just one game back.

After that, the Bulldogs begin play in the Big East tournament next week. Win both this week's games and they earn a No. 2 seed and an opening game against one of the league's bottom feeders. Lose them both and Butler is probably the fourth seed, likely facing either Xavier or St. John's in its Big East tourney opener. Both are probable NCAA tournament teams. 

St. John's would be playing on its quasi-home court at Madison Square Garden.

"Obviously, it goes without saying there are no easy nights in the Big East," Butler coach Chris Holtmann said. "But both these teams (Georgetown and Providence) have beat us. Both teams are in the top three or four of the league. Both teams are NCAA tournament teams. Georgetown is an outstanding team. We've seen that already this year."

Chrabascz was scheduled to practice on Monday for the first time since breaking his hand against Villanova on Feb. 14. The coaching staff will decide Tuesday morning how much to use him, if at all against Georgetown. Holtmann said Chrabascz was an unlikely starter, but the coach would like to use the sophomore forward off the bench.

Butler has fared pretty well without him, going 3-1 in his absence. But the 3 victories were against teams with a combined conference record of 13-36. The Bulldogs were blown out 73-56 at Xavier in their toughest matchup without Chrabascz.

Providence and Georgetown are a combined 20-12 in the league.

"I know our guys will be ready against Georgetown, but senior day is an interesting thing," Holtmann said. "You have so much emotion for those that you battled with, particularly our three seniors. But you also don't want our guys putting too much on themselves. Concentrate on the next play, particularly what is right in front of us."

Georgetown and Butler will be meeting for the third time this season. 

Butler won 64-58 in a non-conference game in the Battle 4 Atlantis on Nov. 28, a tournament Butler officials agreed to play in more than two years ago before the school joined the Big East.

The Hoyas won 61-59 at the Verizon Center in Washington on Jan. 17. Georgetown's Isaac Copeland hit a jumper with 5" left and D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera blocked a potential game-tying shot at the buzzer by Butler's Roosevelt Jones, who had a career-high 28 points.

Butler has a reputation for being a physical team. 

Georgetown is the one Big East team that can match it — and maybe even surpass it.

"There have been two absolute slugfests that we played with them," Holtmann said. "I think our effort was really good and it's going to need to be really good on Tuesday to give ourselves a chance."

Follow Star reporter Michael Pointer on Twitter: @michaelpointer.

GEORGETOWN at BUTLER
Tipoff: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Hinkle Fieldhouse.
TV: Fox Sports 1.
Radio: WFNI-1070 AM 107.5 FM.

GEORGETOWN (18-9, 10-6 Big East)
Coach: John Thompson III.
Projected starters

Pos.	Player	Ht.	PPG
G	D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera	6-3	16.0
G	Jabril Trawick	6-5	8.6
F	Isaac Copeland	6-9	6.8
F	L.J. Peak	6-5	8.4
C	Josh Smith	6-10	11.3
Key reserve	Mikael Hopkins	6-9	5.0

BUTLER (21-8, 11-5)
Coach: Chris Holtmann.
Projected starters

Pos.	Player	Ht.	PPG
G	Alex Barlow	5-11	8.7
G	Kellen Dunham	6-6	17.0
G	Roosevelt Jones	6-4	13.0
F	Tyler Wideman	6-8	2.7
F	Kameron Woods	6-9	7.8
Key reserve	Kelan Martin	6-6	7.4

STORYLINES
Finale for 3 seniors, longtime Butler official: It is the final home game for three Butler seniors in Alex Barlow, Kameron Woods and reserve guard Jackson Aldridge, who will honored during post-game ceremonies. 

It is also the final home game for longtime Butler sports information director Jim McGrath, who is retiring in June after 34 years at the school. McGrath's current title is associate athletic director/sports information.

TOUCHING WOODS

Woods moving up list, stepping up defensively: Woods moved into sole possession of third place on Butler's career rebounding list with 6 rebounds during a 67-53 victory at DePaul on Saturday. He now has 890, 6 ahead of fourth-place Matt Howard (2007-11) and 63 behind second-place Jeff Blue, who had 953 from 1961-64. Woods also has been more assertive offensively in the four games Andrew Chrabascz has missed because of a broken hand. He is averaging 8.5 shots and 11.3 points since Chrabascz went out. Woods averaged just under five shots and 7.2 points in the first 25 games

HOME BITTERSWEET HOME

Homecoming from Georgetown standout: Smith-Rivera returns to Hinkle Fieldhouse, just a few miles from where he played high school basketball at North Central for three years before transferring to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. 

The pre-season Big East Player of the Year has generally lived up to that billing. He's fifth in the conference in scoring, second in free-throw percentage (86.2), fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3-1) sixth in steals (1.7 per game) and 10th in 3-point field-goal percentage (39.4). He's also averaging 34 minutes per game, sixth highest in league. Smith-Rivera had 29 points in the Hoyas' 81-70 loss at St. John's on Saturday.

— Michael Pointer