Last Tuesday Charleston beat Stony Brook 82-79 in OT in the CAA tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Cougars won 31 games last year and made the NCAA tourney before losing to San Diego State and have now made it back there for the 2nd straight year. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Charleston SR SG Bryce Butler about being the best 6th Man in the conference.
In 2022 you were a member of Team USA at the FIBA Americas U-23 3×3 championship: what did it mean to you to represent your country, and what did it mean to you to win a gold medal? Anytime you can play with your country across your chest it is a cool experience. It was great to go down to the Dominican Republic and compete with my brother.
Last year as a senior at West Liberty you were named 1st-team All-American/1st-team Academic All-American: how are you able to balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? A lot of it is just time-management. After being in college for several years I know how to study, communicate with my teachers, etc. It involves hard work but I try to get everything done on time.
You also led the nation with 829 PTS: what is the secret to being a great scorer? A lot of hard work/repetitions. When you get into the game you fall back on what you practice every day. Having really good teammates helps and I have been fortunate in that they get me the ball in my spots.
In the 2023 D-2 title game you scored a game-high 32 PTS in a 10-PT loss to Nova Southeastern: how close did you come to winning a title? It was a heartbreaking loss as a senior after playing so many games with winning a title as our goal. It was bittersweet: it came down to Nova being a great team that was better than us that day so hats off to them.
Why did you decide to transfer to Charleston? I was fortunate to get the extra year due to COVID. There was no bad blood at all: I just wanted to play in March Madness and Charleston was that place. I knew immediately after my visit…and now it is looking like a great decision!
You do not take a lot of threes (35) but you have made almost ½ of them (16): do you or Coach Pat Kelsey feel that you should take more because you have such a good 3P%? It is just the way the game goes. Last year I shot the ball well from 3-PT land but this year I have a different role. If I have an open shot then I am expected to knock it down but I do not want to force anything.
Earlier this month you were named conference 6th Man of the Year: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? I am doing whatever it takes and Coach Kelsey gave me that role so I was happy to do it. I will do whatever it takes to help the team win: I was not trying to win such an award but I am grateful to receive it.
Last Tuesday in the CAA tourney title game you had 6 REB in a 3-PT OT win over Stony Brook: what did it mean to you to win a title, and what was the feeling like in your locker room afterward? Coming from winning a pair of titles at West Liberty, it is a bit of a different feeling because this week we had to win our conference tourney to make the big tourney. It is still surreal but this is the reason I came here and we are excited to compete/advance.
Your father Eric/brother Austin both played D-1 basketball: who is the best athlete in the family? I will have to give it to my mom. She was a swimmer and won a state volleyball title in high school. She takes losing the hardest but the support she gives all of us is amazing.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? It could be anywhere from a 12-14 seed depending on how the other games pan out this weekend, but our mindset is to prepare the same way and then go out and compete.