Winning teams find ways to win, simple as that.

Winning teams win ugly. Winning teams win with key players out of the lineup. Winning teams win after letting a winnable game slip away and scramble in the final minutes to make up for the mistakes.

In remaking his roster heading into the 2023-24 season, Butler coach Thad Matta has shown he's brought in a group of winners. A group of players who will always put up a fight and do whatever it takes to win.

"As I told them, they showed me they were winners because they finished the game, they kept playing," he said. "We got the stops when we needed, we locked down and that's a tribute to those guys in there."

Augusto Cassia's block with three seconds left sealed a 75-72 win over Providence on Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

This game wasn't supposed to test Butler's winning spirit. Playing without starters Josh Oduro and Bryce Hopkins, Providence was missing about 30 points and 20 rebounds of production. Butler already let its first meeting with the Friars slip away, so the visitors certainly weren't going to come into Hinkle and catch the Bulldogs by surprise. But a flurry of 3-pointers and uncontested drives to the basket erased an 11-point Butler lead and tied the score at 53 with less than four minutes remaining in the game.

Without its key frontcourt players, Providence went small, playing five guards. Corey Floyd Jr., Devin Carter and Jayden Pierre did a great job of exploiting their mismatches and Butler (16-7, 7-6) struggled to find an answer defensively. The Friars (15-9, 6-7) found a successful formula, but they got a lot of help from Butler.

The Bulldogs played one of their sloppiest games of the season, regularly turning the ball over by dribbling a ball off a foot or sending an errant pass into the front row. Providence turned 16 Butler turnovers into 13 points, points that went a long way in keeping it in the game.

"We were so sloppy," Matta said. "I told the guys at halftime, we're up nine but we've got 10 turnovers. So many of them were unforced, and that's uncharacteristic of us just in terms of taking care of the basketball.

"We allowed them to get some momentum in the second half, they took advantage of them and had us on the ropes. But like I said, credit our guys, they kept going."

With their sights set on the NCAA tournament, a home loss to a solid but unspectacular Providence would not have been good for Butler's tournament resume. Butler proved it can win ugly, but with home games against Marquette and Creighton looming, a C-plus performance will not be enough to get two resume-boosting wins.

If the season ended today, Butler has probably done enough to punch a ticket to the Big Dance, but the season doesn't end today, and the Bulldogs have to show the selection committee these are not the Dawgs of old. These Dawgs play an exciting brand of basketball worthy of a chance to show it on a national stage, and Matta said he's been bragging behind their backs about just how talented his guys are.

He said they hadn't had a letdown game — until Saturday — but they used the game to show just how resilient they are. Pierre Brooks II embodied that winning spirit with his play in the final seconds of the game. Brooks struggled to find his offense throughout the game, but with the Bulldogs trailing by one in the final seconds, Matta didn't hesitate to call a play for his dynamic forward. Brooks came through with a tough post basket, setting the stage for Cassia's game-saving block.

"We didn't take the timeout and I said (to Brooks), 'Drive him, drive him," Matta said. "Pierre wasn't very good in the first half, but I thought he did a tremendous job in the final 20 minutes. It's good to see him play well for us down the stretch."

Follow IndyStar Butler Insider Akeem Glaspie on X at @THEAkeemGlaspie.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Thad Matta recruited winners to Butler, they showed that vs. Providence