Maybe Xavier was already in the NCAA Tournament field before its BIG EAST Tournament opener against Butler. Maybe it wasn’t.
It all depended on which talking head, which NCAA Tournament bracketeer, you listened to the past week or so. But life on Bubbleville is a precarious existence at best. So the prevailing theory was the Musketeers could ill afford a loss to No.10 Butler Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. Not if they had plans for later in March.
Like many teams in this pandemic scarred season, the Musketeers had their share of ups and downs coming into the tournament. Xavier began the season in strong fashion by winning its first eight games, including an impressive 22-point victory over an Oklahoma team that is a lock for the Big Dance.
But with the second half of their season marred by seven, count ‘em, seven postponements, plus the loss of premier three-point threat Nate Johnson due to a season-ending leg injury, the Musketeers stumbled to a 5-7 record the rest of the season. Including back-to-back losses to Georgetown and Marquette to end the regular season.
So when faced with battling Butler, a team-playing without senior floor general Aaron Thompson (season-ending shoulder injury), as well as a gimpy Bryce Nze, a must-win game for Xavier looked to be there for the taking.
And nothing that happened in the first half did anything to change that thinking. The Musketeers shot 58.6% in the opening 20 minutes, including a robust 6-of-12 from three-point range, while limiting Butler to 10-of-30 from the field as Xavier built leads as large as 19 points (32-13) before settling for a 14-lead at half.
So really, what could go wrong for the Musketeers?
Heavy doses of Chuck Harris, Bryce Nze and Bryce Golden, that’s what.
Golden and Nze combined to shoot 16-of-21 from the field to combine for 39 points and Harris, a BIG EAST All-Freshman team selection, scored all 21 of his points in the second half and overtime, including the two game-clinching free throws with three seconds to play in overtime, as Butler rallied for a 70-69 victory.
It was an inspirational comeback victory for a gutty Butler squad while at the same time being a devastating defeat for the Musketeers as their NCAA Tournament hopes now lay somewhere between slim and none.
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So what did Butler head coach LaVall Jordan implore his team to do down 40-26 at the half? Just stay the course.
You see, the Bulldogs have been in the very same predicament several times this season. They trailed Creighton by 13 at the half. They came back to win. They trailed St. John’s 12 at the half. They came back to win. And they trailed Georgetown by seven at the half. They came back to win.
So Wednesday night was just more of the same old same old for the Bulldogs.
“(My message was) that we were still in business,” Jordan said. “Byrce Nze played like a senior in the first half. We let them dominate the paint but Nze kept us close. The message was that we were right there, we just had to chop after it. Just proud of our guys’ toughness and to continue to compete all the way until there were zeros on the clock.”
Seventh-seeded Xavier kept its lead in double digits for almost the first nine minutes of the second half before Butler began to make its move. Layup by Harris with 11:11 to play cut the Xavier lead to 50-42, the closest the Bulldogs had been since they trailed 20-11 early in the game. Moments later, a three-ball from Harris made it Xavier 52-45. Then 52-47 on another Harris bucket.
Xavier was able to keep Butler at bay thanks for a while mostly to Zach Freemantle who delivered seven straight points for the Musketeers, the last coming on a basket with 2:44 to play that gave Xavier a 59-53 lead. But Butler scored the final six points of regulation with the last points coming on two free throws by Harris with 41.6 to play to knot it at 59-all and it was off to overtime.
A pair of free throws by Xavier senior Paul Scruggs with 18.3 seconds remaining in the OT seemed to have the Musketeers set up for victory. Just one more defensive stop and the NCAA dream would still be alive.
But Xavier inexplicably fouled Harris with three seconds to play and the freshman, an 85 percent free throw shooter, knocked down both shots to seal the victory.
“They refuse to let each other lose,” Jordan said. “Chuck Harris played for the seniors and the communication in the timeouts was all about fighting for each other. And when you do that anything can happen. Our guys had confidence coming in but (Xavier) hit us in the mouth and we had to respond. So I’m just proud of our guys’ response and proud of the toughness they showed. Now we just have to get off our feet and get ready for tomorrow.”
The Bulldogs will now face No. 2 Creighton in the quarterfinals Thursday at 6 p.m. ET. The Bulldogs and Bluejays split the season series with Butler winning 70-66 at Hinkle Fieldhouse before Creighton took a 93-73 victory in the regular-season finale in Omaha.
“We knew we played a pretty rough first half,” Harris said. “None of our shots were falling and everything was falling for them. But we knew we were always in the game. Going into halftime we were only down 14 so we just kept preaching one step at a time, one possession at a time, until we got back in it.”
As brilliant as Harris, Nze and Golden played for the Bulldogs, Jordan said it was much more than just those three that led to the victory.
“I’m extremely proud of our group. We have a lot of respect for Xavier and how good they are and they came at us in the first half,” Jordan said. “They dominated the paint, had 20 points in the paint, and we didn’t guard them well at all. Our guys responded. I thought they stayed focused, stayed in the moment. Bryce Nze hit some huge threes to keep us around, Chuck Harris made some plays late and Bo Hodges toughed it out. Two huge putbacks by Bryce Golden and Myles Wilmoth’s defense, Jair Bolden’s defense, they just battled. As long as it was going to take they were going to continue to fight for each other.”
And now the Bulldogs get to battle another day. For Xavier, not so much.