Butler hands Xavier 5th straight loss
It was a stretch of Xavier basketball that typified a season of increasing angst and frustration.
With less than four minutes to play in regulation against the visiting Butler Universiy Bulldogs, and in the heart of a back-and-forth game that saw seven ties and 17 lead changes, Xavier committed four turnovers and was outscored 14-7 by the visitors.
That run proved decisive as the No. 22 Bulldogs (23-6, 12-5 Big East) wrapped up the No. 2 seed for the Big East Tournament and handed the sliding Musketeers (18-11, 8-8 Big East) their fifth consecutive loss Sunday at Cintas Center.
A crowd of 10,312 attended the game, which is Xavier's second-to-last home game this season. The Musketeers close out the home portion of their schedule Wednesday against Marquette before Saturday's regular-season finale at DePaul.
For Butler, the win over Xavier – an old rival from days of the bygone Midwestern Collegiate Conference – puts a stamp on a banner week that included its Wednesday road win at second-ranked Villanova.
For Xavier, the loss to Butler puts the 2016-17 Xavier squad in the company of the 1981-82 Musketeers which also had five-straight losses. That crop of Musketeers lost six in a row in January of 1982.
The defeat also marked the first five-game skid of head coach Chris Mack's time at Xavier.
"Our undoing with the live-ball turnovers down the stretch cost us the game," Mack said. "It was a two-point game on a few occasions and we turn the ball over. It's one thing for it to be a dead ball. It's another for the team to turn it into points, which they did at a crucial stretch. It happened multiple times, so I've got to do a better job of getting our guys in position down the stretch. Like I said, it was a tough loss."
Xavier trailed by two points with 3:53 to play but set itself back with the giveaways. Butler converted the four turnovers into eight points.
Junior Butler forward Kelan Martin was the beneficiary of one of the turnovers. He finished with a game-high 25 points on 9 of 15 shooting. He also added seven rebounds.
"We started hedging more (on defense)," Martin said of the repeated defensive stands that ultimately produced the victory. "We got active hands, and I think that's what caused those turnovers."
Freshman guard Kamar Baldwin also came up big down the stretch as he finished with 17 points, five rebounds, and a game-high five steals.
"He's fearless. He's extremely quick," Mack said of Baldwin's performance. "He has done it time after time after time. It's not like this game is the exception... He's been that way on film. He's been that way throughout the conference season. He's a really talented kid."
All told, seven Butler players scored at least eight points in the game.
Xavier junior guard Trevon Bluiett scored a team-high 21 points (7 of 16) in his second game back from an ankle injury that forced him to miss two straight games.
Freshman guard Quentin Goodin (11 points; 4 of 10), junior guard J.P. Macura (17 points; 5 of 8) and Malcolm Bernard (13 points; 5 of 9) all finished in double-figure scoring for the Musketeers.
It wasn't enough. A relatively clean game became sloppy as Xavier finished with 11 turnovers from which Butler scored 19 points.
Similar lapses have dogged the Musketeers throughout the year. It's now threatening Xavier's NCAA Tournament projections, as well as its road through the upcoming Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
"It means a lot to us to win, but it's got to mean more to you than anything. It has to mean, 'if I don't get this (win), I'm gonna die.' I don't mean to sound dramatic but it has to be (something) of that fashion," Bernard said of Xavier's losing streak. "Because if you don't feel that way, there are other teams that want these wins just as much as you do and they will give whatever it takes to get these wins... Our will has to be stronger. Our want has to be more. I can't make excuses for us because we have to want it more. We have to execute better."
XTRA NOTES
• Junior forward Sean O'Mara apologized to teammates and fans for a technical foul he was assessed at the 8:28 mark in the second half. In the midst of a run where Xavier was struggling to get stops, Baldwin scored on a second-chance opportunity during a broken play. O'Mara's frustration got the better of him as he punched the ball after Baldwin's score, resulting in a four-point trip down the court for the Bulldogs at a critical juncture in the game.
O'Mara was then lifted from the game by Mack.
"That's probably one of the dumbest things I've done in a Xavier uniform," O'Mara said. "I want to apologize to my teammates, obviously, first and foremost, and the fans as well. I can't be doing something like that, especially in a close game... I didn't mean to hit the ball as hard as I did. Just kind of the adrenaline and emotion of the game got to me for a second. It cost my team."
• Mack's starting lineup (Bluiett, Macura, Goodin, sophomore forward Kaiser Gates and senior forward RaShid Gaston) was the ninth different combination of starters Mack has used this season.
• Bluiett moved into the No. 19 spot on Xavier's all-time leading scorer's list. At 1,403 points, Bluiett passed Jeff Jenkins and Justin Doellman.
• Xavier surpassed its 2015-16 season total for Cintas Center sellouts as Sunday's game was the 12th of the current campaign.