Butler's five-game losing streak created a must-win game against the worst team in the Big East, DePaul.

DePaul was the only team picked to finish worse than Butler during the preseason. A DePaul program in such disarray it fired its coach in mid-January, in the midst of a year-long conference losing skid while heading toward its fourth losing season in a row.

This Butler program has too much pride and pedigree to be mentioned in the same breath as DePaul, but its play of late dragged the Dawgs closer to the Blue Demons (3-26, 0-18) in the standings.

Butler (17-13, 8-11) entered Saturday's game struggling to score, struggling to defend and struggling to hold onto the basketball. Just about everything was going wrong for the Bulldogs, and a loss to DePaul would represent a new low point.

Crisis averted.

Butler righted its ship with a dominant 82-63 win over DePaul. The win snaps the five-game losing skid and should provide some positive momentum heading into the regular season finale against Xavier on Wednesday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

"Our whole message going into this game was let's get back to playing our style of basketball," Butler coach Thad Matta said. "Let's get back to pushing the ball up the floor and defending. We haven't scored in these games, so getting 82 points today was something that we wanted.

"Even the games that we've lost here in the last five, we've had some good moments. We're just trying to get that out of them and to play that way."

Butler has to remember what got it wins over Marquette and Creighton if it wants to save its season. Butler entered January on the right side of the NCAA tournament bubble. Its poor finish to February put it squarely out of the tournament, and now, every game is a must-win. It's unclear if winning the Big East tournament is the only way for the Bulldogs to make the Big Dance, but they certainly have to go on a run in New York City, and that includes knocking off top-seeded UConn.

Against DePaul, Butler finally looked like the offensive juggernaut it became during the early part of the season. Pierre Brooks II got going early, making four 3-pointers in the first half. DJ Davis finished off the Blue Demons, scoring 16 of his 24 points after halftime. The 6-1 sharpshooter finally broke out of his slump, shooting with the confidence that made him a consistent 20-point scorer. If Butler wants to make a run through the Big East tournament, one or both of Brooks and Davis has to have a special performance. Brooks started to find his offense against St. John's. If Davis can heat up, anything is possible for the Bulldogs.

"That's huge because he hasn't been making shots," Matta said of Davis finding his shooting touch. "Just from the standpoint of getting him back seeing the ball into the basket. ... The thing that doesn't show on the stat sheet is he really defended his (butt) off today. That was big for us."

It's unfortunate a win over DePaul was needed to boost spirits, but that's life in the Big East. Losing streaks happen in a conference filled with talented teams. Matta isn't making excuses, but he's also not trying to look back at the low points of the season. The Dawgs know they have no margin for error. With their backs against the wall, Matta expects his players to rise to the occasion and handle the pressure with poise.

"This sport is hard, and you can't feel sorry for yourself," Matta said. "You got to go out and you got to perform every time you take the floor. This is a big win for us. There's a lot of pressure on this game, playing a team that hasn't won a (conference) game and I thought our guys handled that well."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Butler Bulldogs basketball back to winning ways by beating DePaul