NC State took care of business in defeating Dayton 76-64 on Thursday to advance to the fifth-place game at 10 p.m. tonight on ESPN2 in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.

An old friend awaits in senior center Manny Bates and Butler, which has coach Thad Matta back on the sidelines. Bates spent four years at NC State — healthy for two of them — and earned his degree. He elected to transfer after last year's difficult season, where he got hurt 57 seconds into the first game of the season.

Butler is off to a 4-2 start and defeated Brigham Young 75-70 on Thursday. Tennessee crushed them 71-45 on Wednesday to open up the event.

Butler struggled last year in going 14-19 overall and 6-14 in the Big East and went through a coaching changes.

The Bulldogs went into their past in bringing back former coach Thad Matta, who coached there from 1997-01, with the last year as head coach. He went 24-8 when Butler was in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, and he jumped to Xavier. After reach the Elite Eight in his third year at Xavier, he made the move to Ohio State, and went to the Final Four twice and was the NCAA runner-up in his third year there 2006-07.

Matta had back surgery in 2007 and it went wrong, causing him major health issues. That led to leaving coaching after the 2016-17 season.

Bates is joined in the starting lineup by Purdue graduate transfer wing Eric Hunter Jr., sophomore wing Jayden Taylor, junior wing Chuck Harris and sophomore power forward Simas Lukosius.

Rankings

Butler was No. 117 in the NET rankings last season, and NC State was No. 139.

ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Bulldogs ranked No. 52 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 44.

KenPom.com has Butler at No. 89, and NCSU checks in at No. 59.

RealtimeRPI.com has NC State ranked No. 63 in the country, and Butler is 88.

Shooting

Butler is averaging 75.8 points per game, and is shooting 50.1 percent from the field, 35.1 percent on three-pointers and 70.8 percent from the free-throw line.

Three of the starters are shooting at least 40 percent from beyond the arc — Lukosius, Taylor and Hunter. Lukosius has shot 13 of 31 on three-pointers, and Hunter is 12 of 29. Throw in Harris and the Bulldogs will have four three-pointers on the court when the starters are playing.

Rebounding

Butler is averaging 32.8 rebounds per game, but were out-rebounded 39-27 against BYU on Thursday. Bates leads the way with 7.0 rebounds per game, and Lukosius is chipping in 4.8 boards a contest. Sophomore forward D.J. Hughes has a team-high 10 offensive rebounds in five games off the bench.

Defense

The Bulldogs are allowing 61.8 points per game, and opponents have shot 42.4 percent from the field and 31.9 percent on three-pointers.

Bates is the lone shot-blocker and he has 17, but three players have at least 11 steals in six games played.

Depth

Butler played four players off the bench against BYU, but none for more than nine minutes.

Junior point guard Myles Tate is a former starter, Hughes will help at power forward and freshmen Pierce Thomas and Connor Turnbull are in the mix. Thomas is a wing and Turnbull a skinny 6-10, 215-pound post player.

Tate started 18 games his freshman year in 2020-21 and averaged 6.7 points and 2.3 assists per game. He’s chipping in 2.7 poitnts and 1.2 assists a contest this season.

Thomas is averaging 4.3 points and 3.8 rebounds in 18.2 minutes per game through six contests.

NC State signed center Immanuel “Manny” Bates in the class of 2018, and he was the classic project big man.

The 6-11, 240-pound Bates played his first two games at Fayetteville (N.C.) Jack Britt, and then at Fayetteville Northwood Temple Academy. However, he hurt his shoulder in the preseason of his senior year and was limited to two games.

Bates ended up redshirting in 2018-19 after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Bates jumped into the lineup in 2019-20 and averaged 5.1 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, but quickly became known for his shot-blocking. He had 83 blocks in 29 games for a 2.9 blocks per game average.

Bates’ improved his offense in 2020-21 and remained a gifted shot-blocker. He had 20 points, seven rebounds and eight blocks in a 80-69 loss at Saint Louis on Dec. 17, 2020. He also had 10 points, six rebounds and seven blocks in a 86-76 loss at North Carolina on Jan. 23. He reached double figures in points in 11 games that season.

Disaster struck for Bates and NC State 57 seconds into the season opener against Bucknell last year Nov. 9. The Wolfpack turned to sophomore centers Ebenezer Dowuona and Jaylon Gibson, but opposing centers routinely had great games against NCSU.

NC State was hoping Bates would return for this season and not enter the NBA Draft last spring, but he surprising entered the transfer portal and picked Butler over Georgetown and others. Butler coach Thad Matta had a long lineage of big men make the NBA at Ohio State, and one of them is his director of basketball operations — former No. 1 pick Greg Oden.

Bates is averaging 12.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game, and is shooting 70 percent from the field through six games. He opened the season with 25 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in a 89-53 win over New Orleans on Nov. 7. He also had 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks against Penn State on Nov. 14.

NC State

PG — 1 Jarkel Joiner (6-1, 180, Sr., 18.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.7 spg)

SG — 0 Terquavion Smith (6-4, 165, Soph., 17.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 5.0 apg, 2.5 spg)

G — 14 Casey Morsell (6-3, 200, R-Jr., 14.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.8 spg)

PF — 5 Jack Clark (6-8, 200, R-Jr., 10.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.2 apg, 1.8 spg)

C — 11 Dusan Mahorcic (6-10, 235, Sr., 8.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 0.5 apg)

Butler

PG — 3 Chuck Harris (6-2, 200, Jr., 12.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.2 spg)

SG — 13 Jayden Taylor (6-4, 195, Soph., 16.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.3 apg, 2.0 spg)

SF — 2 Eric Hunter Jr. (6-4, 170, Sr., 12.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.8 apg, 2.0 spg)

PF — 41 Simas Lukosius (6-6, 225, Soph., 12.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.2 spg)

C — 15 Manny Bates (6-11, 240, Sr., 12.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.0 spg, 2.8 bpg)

31.9 Percent from the field for Butler in the 71-45 loss against Tennessee on Wednesday. The Bulldogs went 15 of 47 from the field and 5 of 23 on three-pointers, and only had one player over eight points.

147 Career blocks at NC State for Butler center Manny Bates, which ranks fourth in Wolfpack history.

442 Career wins for Thad Matta, who has won at least 21 game in every season but his last at Ohio State. He has topped 30 wins three times.

Butler’s leading scorer Jayden Taylor has made a big jump from his freshman year to sophomore campaign.

Taylor averaged 8.2 points per game last year, and shot 37.9 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from three-point land. He has made a huge jump to 16.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and is shooting an impressive 51.6 percent from the field and 41.4 percent on three-pointers.

The 6-4, 195-pounder from Indianapolis (Ind.) Perry Meridian High stayed home for college in the class of 2021, and committed to Butler early Sept. 19, 2019. He had offers from Bradley, Miami (Ohio) and IUPUI at the time. He ended up being ranked as the No. 46 shooting guard in the class of 2021.

Taylor dropped 20 points and went 3 of 6 on three-pointers in the 75-70 win over BYU. He has scored at least 12 points in all six games, and he had 18 points and four steals against the tough Tennessee defense in a 71-45 loss Wednesday in the Bahamas.

Taylor been red-hot from three-point range the last three games, going 11 of 18 from beyond the arc. That has made up for going 0 of 10 on three-pointers in the first three games.

NC State sophomore shooting guard Terquavion Smith is second on the Wolfpack with 17.7 points per game and is averaging a team-best 5.0 assists. He is coming off a tough second half in the win over Dayton, going 0 of 5 after halftime and finished the game with eight turnovers. He went 5 of 15 from the field for 19 points and four turnovers in the 80-74 loss vs. Kansas on Wednesday.

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