Fans storm the court after SLU upsets #9 Butler. (Saint Louis Athletics)

Fans storm the court after SLU upsets #9 Butler. (Saint Louis Athletics)

The Saint Louis Billikens delivered their biggest upset in nine seasons, taking down ninth ranked Butler 75-58 Thursday night in St. Louis. The Billikens beat Butler with hard nosed defense, forcing a season-worst 23 turnovers.  Dwayne Evans added 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting for the Billikens (15-5, 4-2 Atlantic-10), who fed off a record crowd of 10,612 at Chaifetz Arena that stormed the court after the game. Saint Louis shot 50 percent and the 17-point lead was the school’s best-ever against a ranked opponent.

Butler coach Brad Stevens knew it would be a tough game, but is troubled by how his team was handled.
“We’ve got to bounce back from this.  This was going to be a really hard place to win if we played well, and we knew that. The disappointing thing is they made us not play well.”

Butler had 16 turnovers in the first half, only two shy of its season worst and, combined with 37.5 percent shooting, led to a 34-23 halftime lead for Saint Louis.  SLU never let up.  Billikens reserve Jordair Jett tied a career best 19 points in just 23 minutes of play. Jett said once SLU was feeling it, there was no letting down.

“We were just thinking `Step on it. Make the lead go bigger,” Jett said. “That’s how we play.”

Watch the highlights: