Butler lost for the first time in a month its last time out, and it now faces a potentially dangerous portion of its schedule.
The 13th-ranked Bulldogs look to bounce back, and will try not to overlook Division II Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Butler (23-3, 11-2 Horizon League) fell to Wright State 77-65 on Saturday, and the loss dropped the Bulldogs into second place in the Horizon League behind the Raiders. It was Butler's first loss since a 73-67 overtime defeat at Illinois-Chicago on Jan. 10.
Butler also moved down three spots in the AP Top 25 after breaking into the Top 10 for the first time in school history.
The Bulldogs are now playing a solid Division II opponent, and hope not to get caught looking ahead to their next game, which is against a Top 25 team. After hosting the Eagles (22-5) - who have won a school record 14 straight games - Butler hosts 16th-ranked Southern Illinois, which is in first place in the Missouri Valley Conference, in Saturday's non-conference 'Bracketbuster' game.
Before worrying about the Salukis in their nationally televised game, the Bulldogs need to regain their shooting touch against Florida Gulf Coast.
Butler shot only 36.1 percent from the floor and made just 5-of-26 (19.2 percent) of its 3-pointers against Wright State. This came one game after the Bulldogs hit a school-record 20 3-pointers in 33 attempts and shot a season-high 64.7 percent from the floor in a 92-50 win over Cleveland State on Thursday.
Leading scorer A.J. Graves was held to 10 points - 7.4 points below his average - while shooting 3-for-16, including an awful 1-of-9 from beyond the 3-point arc.
"There were things that were just really tough, which was pretty disappointing," Bulldogs coach Todd Lickliter said. "For the most part, I thought that our guys stayed pretty true in a tough situation. We got beat tonight by a better team. They were a better team tonight."
Graves is averaging just 11.8 points in his last five games after averaging 21.2 in his previous five contests.
Butler has a 21-game winning streak at Hinkle Fieldhouse dating back to last season and is 11-0 at home this season. The Bulldogs have won their last four games there by an average of 23.5 points while shooting 50.0 percent (45-of-90) from 3-point range.
They have won 44 of their last 47 home games against non-conference opponents.
The Eagles will make the jump to Division I next season, when they join the Atlantic Sun Conference, but are currently one of the top Division II independents.
Florida Gulf Coast defeated Johnson and Wales 77-52 on Wednesday, and has won its last three games by an average of 27.0 points. Beau Bauer had 14 points against the Wildcats, and is averaging a team-high 14.8 points this season.
This is the first meeting between the teams.
