Butler to Host UIC in Round 2 of WNIT

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The UIC Flames will visit Hinkle Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon to face the Butler Bulldogs in Round 2 of the WNIT. Please click here for ticket information. Those fans unable to attend can watch the game on the Butler Athletics YouTube channel.
 
GameDay
Date: Sunday, March 23, 2025
Time: 1:00 PM ET
Location: Indianapolis, Ind. – Hinkle Fieldhouse
Live Stats: ButlerSports.com (Statbroadcast)
Watch: YouTube.com
 
Bulldog Bits
– Butler is playing in the WNIT as an at-large selection for the second-straight year.
– Lily Carmody needs just one more point to reach 200 in her career and one more steal will push her career total to 50.
– Sydney Jaynes has made 100+ field goals in three-straight seasons for BU to push her career scoring total to 941.
– 16 of Jocelyn Land’s 29 made field goals this year have been made from 3-point range.
– Ari Wiggins has made more 3-pointers this year than her previous three seasons combined.
– Lily Zeinstra is shooting 46 percent from the field and 42 percent from 3-point range.
– UIC’s Kristian Young is from Indianapolis and attended Lawrence North High School.
– BU averages 62 points per game, but has not scored 60+ points since Feb. 12.
– Butler makes seven 3-pointers per game on average to rank fourth in the BIG EAST.
– BU is shooting 33.5 percent from behind the arc, the third-best percentage in the league.
– The Bulldogs rank third among all BIG EAST teams in rebound margin (+2.8).
– Butler ranks second in the league in free throw makes (12) and free throw attempts (16.7) per game.
– BU ranks second in the BIG EAST in bench points per game (20.5).
– Sydney Jaynes scored a team-high 14 points in Butler’s BIG EAST Tournament game vs. St. John’s.
– Lily Zeinstra also scored in double figures in her first tournament game, ending the contest with 11.
– Kilyn McGuff went for seven points and seven rebounds vs. the Red Storm.
– McGuff was named Second Team All-BIG EAST at the conclusion of the regular season.
 
Scouting UIC                                                                                      
The Flames advanced to the second round of the WNIT by defeating UAB on Friday night 63-48. That victory moved their overall record to 15-17, identical to Butler’s. 10 of those 15 wins came against Missouri Valley opponents. UIC defeated Evansville in the conference tournament before being eliminated the next day by Missouri State. Head Coach Ashleen Bracey went with an experienced starting five in UIC’s last game. Every starter was a senior or graduate student. Four players scored in double figures and the team was led by a 22-point performance from Keimari Rimmer. Rimmer was efficient, making eight of her 12 field goal attempts while adding 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals in 28 minutes. Danyel Middleton led the defense with six steals, helping UIC post 15 as a team.
 
All-Time Series                                                                                                
The Bulldogs are 29-21 all-time against UIC. The first-ever meeting came back during the 1984-85 season and the most recent matchup was played in 2013-14 with the Flames coming out on top at Hinkle Fieldhouse 62-57. UIC and Butler would battle two times a year as members of the Horizon League from 1994 to 2012. Butler’s last win against UIC was recorded in Chicago in 2013 when Butler played in the Atlantic 10. Their last win against UIC at Hinkle came the year prior with BU edging the Flames 51-48.
 
Round 1 Recap                                                                                                
UIC scored 15-straight points to start the fourth quarter, fueling the rally needed to move past UAB in Round 1. UAB used a 16-0 run in the second quarter to take an early lead, but UIC had the finishing touch, capping its run in the final quarter on a layup from Ky Toney-Dempsey. Keimari Rimmer tied her career-high with 22 points for the Flames. Krystyna Ellew scored 11 points while Toney-Dempsey and Danyel Middleton closed with 10 points.
 
McGuff Logging Serious Minutes                                            
Kilyn McGuff has played 1,078 minutes for Butler this year, that’s 256 more than any other Bulldog. The only player to start in all 32 games, McGuff will place her name in the Butler record book on Sunday. She is just two minutes shy of earning 10th place at Butler for most minutes played during a single season. If she hits her season average (33), she will move all the way up to sixth. McGuff has played 30+ minutes in 19-straight games and played a season-high 47 minutes in a double overtime game against Wisconsin.
 
WNIT Wins                                                                                                         
Butler has played 13 games in the WNIT, collecting five wins along the way. They recorded a 95-90 victory in their first appearance back in 1998 but would not make it back until 2009 when they defeated Duquesne (59-58). Butler accepted bids to the tournament in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 but did not win a game during that stretch. All of that changed in 2019 when they defeated Northeastern (89-72) and Kent State (70-52) at home before falling at Cincinnati. Just one year ago, BU returned to the WNIT postseason tournament and posted a 75-63 win over Bowling Green before being eliminated by Purdue.
 
WNIT History at Hinkle Fieldhouse                                                       
Butler has only hosted five WNIT games with four of those five coming from their last two appearances. The first WNIT home game for BU was played in 2010 against Illinois State.
 
WNIT Opponents                                                                                            
Butler faced Bowling Green in their first WNIT back in 1998 and then saw the Falcons on the bracket again in 2024. BGSU is the only program to face BU multiple times in the WNIT. The Bulldogs have also faced off against LSU, Marquette, Duquesne, Illinois State, Wisconsin, Toledo, South Dakota State, Cincinnati, Kent State, Northeastern, and Purdue.
 
Key To The Game                                                                                            
The Bulldogs will be limited to just seven players on Sunday when they face a UIC team that ranks second in the NCAA in bench points per game (32.4). South Carolina is the only other team in the nation with better depth than UIC.
 
McGuff Named Second Team All-BIG EAST                                     
Kilyn McGuff was selected to the 2024-25 All-BIG EAST Second Team after a vote from the conference head coaches. McGuff averages 12.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per game to lead the team in each category. She ranks second in the BIG EAST in double-doubles (11), ranks fifth in rebounds per game (8.0), sixth in minutes per game (33.6) and ninth in free throw percentage (77.1). She led BU in scoring 12 times and in rebounding 23 times!
 
Signature Wins                                                                                                
Butler’s two best wins of the season came against Indiana and Marquette. The Hoosiers lost to the Bulldogs at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Nov. 13 by the final score of 56-46. IU moved forward to win 19 games this year and are playing as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles lost to Butler by two at Hinkle on Feb. 9. Marquette reached 20 wins this year and accepted a bid to the WBIT.
 
Kilyn Reached 1,000 Career Points                                                       
Kilyn McGuff reached 1,000 career points in the second half of Butler’s game at #6 UConn. She scored a team-high 17 against the Huskies to move her career total to 1,006. She has scored 402 points as a Bulldog and had 723 over her previous three years at Belmont.
 
What’s Missing?                                                                                             
Caroline Strande and Jordan Meulemans are both out for the season. Meulemans was sidelined just days before Butler’s first game and Strande suffered a season-ending injury on Dec. 29 vs. Seton Hall. Strande was a Second Team All-BIG EAST selection last year and became the first Bulldog in program history to lead the team in points, rebounds and assists during the same season. Meulemans averaged 8.1 points per game last year and made 61 3-pointers, shooting 42 percent from behind the arc.
 
Up Next                                                                                                               
There is no clear opponent up next for the Bulldogs if Butler were to defeat UIC on Sunday afternoon. Old Dominion (17-15) will play Navy (19-11) today at 2 p.m. with the winner set to face Purdue Fort Wayne (25-8) on March 25. Butler could face any one of those three teams and will not know if they are hosting or not until each game is complete. Updated information on the WNIT bracket will be posted to ButlerSports.com once it becomes available.