Finley Bizjack returned and scored a game-high 19 points and Butler held on to beat Georgetown 93-89 on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C. as Thad Matta earned his 500th career victory.
Michael Ajayi and Jamie Kaiser Jr. each scored 16 and Efeosa Oliogu-Elabor added 12 as Butler (14-13, 5-11 Big East) ended a season-high six-game losing streak and split the season series with the Hoyas (13-13, 5-10) despite not making a field goal over the final 3:47.
Matta, a Butler graduate who began his head coaching career with the Bulldogs in 2000 and is now in his second stint, also coached at Xavier and Ohio State before returning in 2022.
Caleb Williams led Georgetown with 16 points while KJ Lewis had 15 and Julius Halaifonua and Vince Iwuchukwu added 12 as the Hoyas have now dropped three straight after a four-game winning streak.
Bizjack — the Big East’s second leading scorer at 17.4 ppg — missed Butler’s 63-56 loss to Seton Hall on Sunday with a left wrist injury, and also had six assists.
After trailing by as many as 15 in the second half, Georgetown made its final six field goals, including three 3-pointers from Williams, closing the gap to 91-89 with 5 seconds left before two Yame Butler free throws.
The Hoyas made their final four 3-pointers after starting 2 of 18.
Georgetown finished 34 of 60 (56.7%) from the field while Butler shot 33 of 59 (55.9%).
Butler connected on its first six shots from the field and didn’t let up much from there in shooting 70% (21 of 30) in the first half and leading 54-45 at the break. Ajayi and Kaiser combined for 25 in the opening half on 10 of 13 shooting as Butler scored a season-high in the first half during conference play.
Bizjack made a jumper in the lane and connected on the ensuing free throw to cap a 7-0 Butler spurt to give the Bulldogs their first double-digit lead at 22-11 with 12:57 left in the half.
Halaifonua scored 10 in the first half, including back-to-back dunks, as Georgetown cut the lead to seven on multiple occasions and stayed close by shooting 55.9% before the break.
