Senior forward Pierre Brooks had 14 points in the loss against Xavier. Photo by Jada Gangazha.
CALEB DENORME | MANAGING EDITOR | cdenorme@butler.edu
The men’s basketball team saw its three-game win streak come to an end on Tuesday night, falling to Xavier 76-63. After a closely contested game midway through the first half, Butler got blitzed and never recovered.
Three Bulldogs finished in double-digits, but the rest of the squad combined for only 15 points. On a night when Butler needed a complete performance, the team did not show up.
Let’s go beyond the box score as the Musketeers break the Dawgs’ win streak.
First half meltdown
Butler’s first half against the Musketeers was nothing short of an absolute drubbing. The Bulldogs jousted back and forth with Xavier for the first eight minutes, but then the home side unleashed an offensive torrent.
After being tied at 19 all with 12:23 left in the half, the Musketeers outscored the Dawgs 29-12 to take a 17-point lead into the locker room. Xavier’s commanding lead was buoyed by Butler’s inability to score for nearly five minutes.
The only players who showed up offensively for the Bulldogs were sophomore guard Finley Bizjack and fifth-year forward Jahmyl Telfort. Both had double digits in the scoring column after the first half, but the rest of the team combined for only ten points.
Many will point to the offensive no-show, but the Dawgs’ defense was abysmal. Allowing 48 points in the first is a recipe for disaster in college basketball. There was no way Butler could keep up with that scoring output from Xavier.
All credit should be given to the Musketeers though. No player for Xavier scored more than eight points in the first half, but seven out of the eight players who got onto the floor contributed to the scoring effort.
Bulldogs fans are used to seeing Butler collapse in the second half, but the Dawgs just could not wait this time. Xavier took advantage and left Butler with a mountain to climb at the break.
Turnover troubles resurface
Butler’s early season plague of turning the ball over reared its ugly head again against Xavier. The Bulldogs threw the ball away 20 times against the Musketeers, their second-highest total this season just below the 21 turnovers they gave away against St. John’s.
The Dawgs were never going to win with the immense amount of turnovers they committed. Xavier is already an offensive force to be reckoned with, so giving them more cracks on offense was not in Butler’s best interest.
The Musketeers generated 21 points off the Bulldogs’ 20 turnovers and 19 points on fastbreaks. The Dawgs’ offense could not stop from coughing the ball up and gave Xavier little resistance on defense.
After a three-game win streak, Butler was starting to think about a late-season streak. Despite this brutal loss to Xavier, the Dawgs will need to get back in the saddle ahead of a matchup at DePaul this weekend.
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