Butler Closes Regular Season With Win Over Xavier
Source: Justin Casterline / Getty
INDIANAPOLIS — Wednesday night’s senior night affair for the Butler Bulldogs may have been a precursor to what might be to come for both the Dawgs and the Xavier Musketeers next week.
Despite what can only be described as an extraordinary night shooting the ball from both squads, the Bulldogs overcame their challenges instead of keeling over, coming away with a 72-66 win.
“We were really good defensively,” said head coach Thad Matta. “Great energy to start the game. It’s a game of runs when you play Xavier.”
From the opening tip, Butler was hot. So hot the Bulldogs made four of their first six three-point shots to jump out to a 20-7 lead in the game’s first four minutes. Early on Butler made eight of their first ten shots (80%) and appeared to be cruising.
Xavier, under the ever-experienced tutelage of Sean Miller, made defensive adjustments after the first media timeout and was able to at least match Butler shot for shot, but never were able to cut too much into the large deficit they dug for themselves.
Xavier’s struggles to score were partially due to the fact that Butler came to play in the paint. Not only did they score 36 points from down low, they also had eight blocked shots, three of which came off the hand of Jalen Thomas. The Dawgs also forced ten first-half turnovers, a majority of which were perpetrated by Posh Alexander.
“Posh Alexander doesn’t get the credit he deserves,” said Xavier head coach Sean Miller after the game. “I hope he is on the Big East All-Defensive team. He impacts the game in so many ways.”
As Butler led 37-24 with 3:22 left to play in the 1st half, it appeared Butler was ready to simply run away with it. You would be mistaken.
What ensued was by far one of the most incredible shows of either bad luck, poor shooting, or… whatever you want to call it.
Both teams would not score again for the remainder of the half. But, into the second half, the Bulldogs would miss nine straight shots, some of which were from point-blank range under the basket. Xavier also made just two of their first 11 shots of the half.
In all, Butler went ten game minutes without scoring. The feat had Coach Matta smiling in disbelief.
It seemed the only shot that could be made inside Hinkle in this stretch was a young man who sank a 94-foot putt from one end of the court to the other during halftime to win $5,000.
“We couldn’t make a shot,” Matta said. “I told the guys during that timeout ‘Guys, this is going to be the simplest timeout we’ve ever had. Make a shot! Just make a shot!’ I said.”
Jahmyl Telfort was finally able to break the scoreless streak for Butler with 13:29 left to play. That bucket opened the floodgates for Butler in the second half as they would then make eight of their next nine shots.
Xavier also kept pace, but inconsistent play from their star Quincy Olivari, who sat the last six minutes, was not enough to overcome the Butler lead. After their dismal start to the half, Butler shot 43-percent the rest of the way with four players getting into double figures scoring.
Telfort finished with 18 points. Alexander added 16 points, while Pierre Brooks had 14 points and DJ Davis added 11.
The victory is Butler’s second in a row to end the regular season with an 18-14 record (9-11 in the Big East). If the Dawgs want to last longer into the month of March, they will have to keep winning as their tournament resume no longer quantifies to an at-large bid to March Madness.
Butler will have to win the Big East post-season tournament in order to go dancing. Oddly enough, the win for Butler means they will likely be either the 8-seed or 9-seed in New York. That also means they may be matched up with Xavier once again in a week’s time.
