Underappreciated nationally? BU freshman Butler having terrific season

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It wasn’t until late August that freshman Jared Butler arrived in Waco to begin his career as a Baylor Bear. After originally signing with Alabama out of high school and enrolling in school for a portion of the summer, Butler made the decision to leave Tuscaloosa and play point guard for Scott Drew. 

“Our staff built a great relationship with Jared and his family during his recruitment, and we know he’s a great fit for our program,” Drew said at the time of his signing in August.

With senior point guard Makai Mason missing five plus games while battling injury throughout the season, that relationship paid off in a massive way. 

As a high school senior at Riverside Academy in Reserve, La.,  Butler played an all-around game averaging 27.4 points, 8.8 rebounds, 8.4 assists and 3.0 steals to lead the Rebels to a 33-2 record. 

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Jared Butler is 5th on Baylor’s team with 9.3 points per game.

“He’s an explosive guard with the ability to create for his teammates and score from all over the court, but more importantly, he’s a high character young man who will be a terrific teammate,” Drew added. “We can’t wait to welcome him to the Baylor family.”

Though the gaudy numbers haven’t translated yet, the balance has as the 6-foot-3 guard has quickly become one of Baylor’s most consistent players his first year on campus.

In fact, with his shooting touch from the perimeter and ability to create for his teammates, he has cemented himself as one of the better freshman to come through the Baylor program in recent history.

For the entire season Butler has averaged 9.3 points, 2.8 assists, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.0 steal while shooting 40% from the field and 37% from three. Those numbers don’t seem to jump out necessarily, but his overall season numbers still place him in the top tier of all Baylor’s freshman seasons. 

Since the 1992 season, Butler’s per game averages rank 13th in points, 4th in assists, 4th in guard rebounds, and 8th in steals for freshman. That’s ahead of Jonathan Motley in points, ahead of Tweety Carter in assists, and ahead of Taurean Prince in rebounds. He also ranks 6th in three point field goal percentage for freshman who played more than 600 minutes in a season. 

Those overall numbers come after a bit of a shaky start to the season for Butler with only the occasional breakout game. It was when sophomore Tristan Clark went down with injury that Butler was asked to do more. The season-ending injury to Clark pushed Butler into the starting lineup and heavily increased his minutes in the rotation, giving him an opportunity to truly shine on a Baylor team that desperately needed a boost on the offensive end.

He took and continues to take full advantage of the opportunity.

Fun Fact: In four starts against ranked opponents, Butler is averaging 16.5 points, 4.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals and has connected on 15 of his 29 three-point field goals, a 51.7% clip from deep.

Baylor has played 12 games since Butler’s debut in the starting lineup against Kansas. In those dozen games Butler has averaged 12.6 points, 3.8 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.1 steals while shooting 44% from the field and 45% from three. 

If that isolated streak was over the course of a season, Butler’s averages rank 9th in points, 2nd in assists to John Lucas, 2nd in guard rebounds to LaceDarius Dunn, and 7th in steals. He’s also 2nd in three point field goal percentage of players who played more than 600 minutes to A.J. Walton. 

Baylor has won 8 of their 12 games since Tristan Clark went down, including a six-game winning streak, and Butler obviously has been a large part of that. He has taken a hold of this opportunity to shine and made the most out of it while placing himself in the top tier of all-time Baylor freshman.

With five games remaining on Baylor’s schedule, the Big 12 tournament, and a chance to go to the NCAA tournament, Butler still an opportunity to improve even more upon his tremendous freshman season.