Not quite a vintage #ZipEmUp performance, but a 22-2 run in the first half doesn’t happen without the body bags close at hand.
Coming into this game, one of the highlighted numbers on the stat sheet was Butler’s three-point shooting during the month of February, when they had been the best team in the nation in making just under half of their attempts from beyond the arc. If they were going to escape from Cintas with a win, it would be behind another hot showing from deep.
Through the first two media timeouts, it looked like the trend was going to continue. Behind a steady 3-7 from behind the arc, the Bulldogs – coming in as the third-best offense in the conference – had 19 points in the first 8 minutes. Fortunately, Xavier kept pace. Dailyn Swain (13/7/4, career-high 6 steals) opened with a bucket and added just his third three in Big East play. Marcus Foster (9/4/2) hit a couple of early threes and added a dime. Ryan Conwell (14/4/4) and Zach Freemantle (14/5/0) each contributed, and the game was tied at the U12.
Then Butler just… stopped scoring. Over the next 6 minutes and change, Xavier held Butler to 2 points on 0-10/0-7/2-4 shooting with 2 turnovers. The Bulldogs just kept hucking from deep without any sign that it was going to start working. Xavier ripped off a 22-2 run in just 12 possessions and absolutely buried the game. Leading rebounder Dante Maddox, Jr (8/8/2) got it started with a trio of free throws and then a made three, and the team once again fed off of his electric energy on both ends of the floor. In addition to the defensive lockdown, Xavier lived in the paint and at the line while they pulled away from the visitors.
From that point forward, it was just a question of playing the clock out. Butler went on a brief 4-0 run that Xavier answered with a 5-0 of their own. Butler won the final war of the half by a score of 6-2, but it felt fairly meaningless as X carried a 48-31 lead into the locker room.
In the post-game interview, Sean Miller ruefully focused on what happened after that, saying, “I wish we had played a little better in the second half.” I’m sure most Xavier fans would agree, but it was far from the kind of catastrophic dissolution that the Muskies have experienced at other points in the season. After dropping 48 in the first half, Xavier scored just 28 on .324/.273/.500 shooting with 6 turnovers in the second half. Sean Miller pointed out that a lot of the shots X got in the second half were still pretty good, and he wasn’t wrong. A lot of ugly bounces and tough rolls kept this one from being a 20-point win.
Instead, it was a 13-point win. Butler tried to fight back in, but Xavier’s defense was just locked in. An offense that came in scalding hot and performing well all conference season cobbled together just .800 points per possession in the second half. Xavier forced 20 turnovers, a staggering 14 of which were live ball steals. Only St. John’s has pushed Butler’s offense into a higher turnover rate than the 25.7% Xavier squeezed out of them today. After their hot start from deep, Butler shot 3-16 from beyond the arc in the final 32 minutes.
There are definitely still kinks to be ironed out for Xavier, but a huge indicator of potential future success is finding different ways to win, and the Muskies demonstrated that tonight. Coming off of a dominant offensive performance against DePaul, X used an incredible defensive showing for 40 minutes to knock off Butler. Butler will certainly be looking to get their own back at that barn they call a home floor on Wednesday, March 5, but this was Xavier’s night.
The Muskies are back in action at 2pm on Sunday at Seton Hall. As UConn just found out, there are no freebies in the Big East. Another in a string of must-win games looms.