Streaking Xavier will try to bolster its NCAA Tournament chances on Wednesday in Indianapolis, when Butler hopes to play spoiler on senior night.
Xavier (19-10, 11-7 Big East) enters play winners of five straight and has firmly latched onto the tourney bubble. CBS Sports’ bracket projection has the Musketeers as one of the “Last Four In,” while ESPN’s has Xavier as the second team out, behind Oklahoma.
The Musketeers, who have won 10 of 13 games, boast wins over Marquette, UConn and Creighton, but can’t afford a loss against struggling Butler.
“We’re playing our best basketball of the year. All coaches want that to be the case and right now, that is the case for us,” Xavier head coach Sean Miller said. “We’ve done a really good job of not getting too far ahead of ourselves, and we haven’t gotten too down if things haven’t gone well. It’s really important for us as we approach the final week of our season that it remains true. We know we have a big test on Wednesday.”
In Saturday’s convincing 22-point home win over Creighton, Zach Freemantle led the Musketeers with 23 points, while Ryan Conwell added 20. Freemantle and Conwell pace the team with 16.8 and 15.8 points per game, respectively.
Butler (13-16, 6-12) is vying to salvage a season that’s gone in the wrong direction. The Bulldogs began the year 7-1 with wins over SMU, Northwestern and Mississippi State, but have since dropped 15 of its last 21 games.
Butler will miss its seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament barring a run in the Big East tournament, but it will have the opportunity to honor seniors Jahmyl Telfort, Pierre Brooks II, Patrick McCaffery and Andre Screen on Wednesday and make it sweeter with a win.
Telfort (16 points per game), Brooks (15.6) and McCaffery (11.0) are the Bulldogs’ three leading scorers. Brooks, who averaged just 2.4 ppg in two seasons at Michigan State, has turned into a 1,000-point scorer after an excellent Butler career.
“My first couple of years I wasn’t really producing at a high level,” Brooks told the Indianapolis Star. “Coach (Thad Matta) believed in me and put me in a position to succeed here at Butler. Coming here and being able to score 1,000 points and do it in front of this fan base is great.”
Butler fell 76-63 at Xavier on Feb. 18, and has dropped four of five in the series.
–Field Level Media
