HOUSTON — That Butler and VCU proudly wear the same small-conference, lovable underdog label is readily apparent.

Less obvious is their shared devotion to the not-so-sexy practice of hard-nosed, aggressive defense — long a trademark of Butler’s game but much more of a surprising late-season development from the running, gunning Rams.

“That’s what’s got us here. For five straight games, we’ve been playing great defense,” VCU forward Jamie Skeen said Friday. “If we play great defense again against Butler, we can probably come out with the win.”

Eighth-seeded Butler (27-9) plays VCU, which has gone from the “First Four” to the Final Four, in the national semifinals Saturday night.

“It’s more of a challenge because you know everybody is looking at their defense, how good they are,” VCU point guard Joey Rodriguez said. “We want to come out and try to prove to people we can play defense just as good as them.”

Virginia Commonwealth (28-11) is a shooter’s dream team, a roster full of guys who think they’re in range as soon as the bus nears the arena. (It’s no coincidence TV analyst Steve Kerr joined the Rams for a shooting contest during practice at last weekend’s Southwest Regional.)

The Rams have launched 895 3-pointers this year — no, that’s not a misprint — and are shooting an unbelievable 44 percent from long range just in the NCAA tournament. They’ve finished with 12 3s in three of their first five games, with Brandon Rozzell making six on his own against Georgetown and Bradford Burgess doing the same against Florida State.