No. 13 Xavier stumbles at Butler
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INDIANAPOLIS ‒ Xavier’s men’s basketball team played one of its worst games and paid the price on Friday night in a 69-67 loss at Butler.
Xavier, ranked No. 13 in the Associated Press poll, essentially wasted the entire first half with its worst shooting performance of any half this season, a season-low 21 points, and added 11 turnovers on top of it.
The 35-21 halftime hole Xavier dug ultimately did the Musketeers in.
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“I thought they set the tone really throughout the entire first half,” Xavier head coach Sean Miller said of Butler. “They ran too fast for us. They screened too hard. They had too much purpose. They blocked shots. They were physical. And they just represented something that was too difficult for our guys to fathom.”
Xavier didn’t look ready and they played like it.
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“We scored 21 points in the first half and had four assists. We’re not a perfect team but I don’t know if that’s happened in a 20-minute segment the entire year,” said Miller.
Xavier responded in the second half to make it a game, but in many ways, it was too little, too late.
“The look in our guys’ eyes is a concern for me. They had very little confidence and I credit Butler because to me just the way Butler ran their offense, played the game with intensity in front of their home crowd, it overwhelmed us,” Miller said. “We did a better job in the second half but you can’t pick and choose, and you certainly have to be as ready as you need to be and compete from start to finish.”
The second half was better. Xavier fought to get back in the game and it came down to a final minute that was filled with drama.
With 1:35 left, Butler led 61-59. A bucket and the foul for Butler’s Jayden Taylor made it a 64-59 game with 40 seconds left when Xavier’s Souley Boum nailed a quick 3-pointer.
At the other end, a loose ball got away from Butler and Xavier’s Jack Nunge dove on it and called timeout.
Xavier didn’t have a timeout, though, so the Musketeers were assessed a technical foul.
Taylor went to the line and hit both free throws, giving Butler a 66-62 lead with 23 seconds left.
Nunge answered with a 3-pointer for Xavier to cut the deficit to 66-65 and 15 seconds left.
A foul on Boum sent Taylor back to the line with 13 seconds left. Taylor hit the first free throw but missed the second.
As Xavier brought the ball up the floor, Butler fouled Boum on purpose and sent him to the line for a pair of free throws with nine seconds left.
Boum made both free throws to tie the game, 67-67.
In the closing seconds, Butler’s Eric Hunter Jr. cut through Xavier’s defense and got to the rim. Nunge, it appeared, blocked Hunter’s shot while the ball was still in his hands, but referees called goaltending and counted with 2.5 seconds left.
Referees went to the monitor to check and confirmed the call.
“I’ll also tell you I’ve never seen a play like the last play of the game for us,” said Miller. “We made a free throw. It wasn’t a fast break opportunity and we had five players meet Butler’s players at half-court for no reason. We created a breakaway layup. It was senseless. They set a screen on Souley Boum, a guy dribbled, and just went full speed at the rim because all five of our players were standing next to their man at half court. It wasn’t a broken play. We literally could have had five players on the other side of half-court and if Butler makes the shot, they make it. I credit them for getting to the basket. Whether that was a good call or a bad call, that was irrelevant, we didn’t deserve to win.”
Boum got a half-court heave at the buzzer that clanked off the back iron.
Xavier had a difficult time matching up with Butler big man Manny Bates, who scored 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting with five blocked shots.
Taylor added 20 points.
Xavier was led by Colby Jones with 17 points and eight rebounds. Jack Nunge had 14 points and eight boards. Boum finished with 12 points and Adam Kunkel contributed 13.
With the loss, Xavier falls to 19-6 overall and remains tied for first place in the Big East Conference at 11-3.
“We have Marquette on Wednesday. Same thing. We’ve had a great season to this point in many ways, but man, I really don’t have many answers in terms of our approach to this game and how it felt in the first half and just not being able to respond to a team that was ready, playing hard, physical and executing, which Butler was,” said Miller.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ‘They overwhelmed us’: No. 13 Xavier stumbles at Butler