INDIANAPOLIS – No. 8/8 Xavier stayed undefeated as guards Tu Holloway and Mark Lyons propelled it to a 73-61 victory over a resilient Butler team on Wednesday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Holloway shared a season-high 16 points with Lyons and also recorded a career-high six steals for the Musketeers who improve to 7-0 on the season. The loss drops Butler to 4-5 on the year.
Lyons went a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line and slashed to the rim for four field goals. Freshman Dez Wells had two exciting dunks among his 13 points and junior forward Travis Taylor had nine points to go along with a team-high eight rebounds. Holloway was also 14-of-16 from the foul line and had seven rebounds.
Defense was key for the Musketeers all night as they held Butler to a season-low 30.6 percent shooting. Most of that was done in the first half as Xavier held the Bulldogs without a field for nearly ten minutes and jumped out to an 18-point lead with just under eight minutes remaining.
Butler had only 10 points from the floor in the first half, but that changed as the Bulldogs came out of the break and rallied to cut the Xavier lead to four with 13:16 remaining in the half. The Musketeers responded with 13-4 run led by Holloway and company to open it back to a 12-point lead.
The Bulldogs continued to hang around but it was the strong shooting from the free-throw line that ultimately sealed Xavier’s second road win of the season. In the second half the Musketeers went 18-of-19 from the stripe and made 16-straight at one point. On the night Xavier was 29-of-37 on foul shots.
Xavier opened the game in the first half, going on a 17-0 run during Butler’s shooting woes. A host of Musketeers led by Taylor’s five points and Lyons three transition layups helped the cause. Freshman Justin Martin hit a 3-pointer and sophomore Jeff Robinson had a basket and a block that lead to one of Lyons buckets during the run.
Butler closed the gap to 39-23 at halftime thanks to a stretch of free-throw shooting. The Bulldogs final seven points in the half came from the foul line. The majority of Butler’s first-half points came from the free-throw line. The Bulldogs converted 13-of-20 shots from the charity stripe, including eight after the midway point in the half.
Holloway took only four shots in the first half but had eight points from foul line. Lyons had eight points as well in the first frame. The Musketeers shot 13-of-27 (48.1 percent) during the period, but finished with 39.6 percent (21-of-53) from the floor.
During the first half Butler shot just 5-of-25 from the floor and Xavier outrebounded the Bulldogs by a 21-17 mark. Butler eventually won the battle of the boards, 39-38.
Chase Stigall and Roosevelt Jones each had 10 points to lead the Bulldogs. Jones had a game-high 11 rebounds.
Xavier returns to Cintas Center on Saturday to play to host to Cincinnati and the 79th edition of the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout. Tip is set for 12:30 p.m. with the game airing on ESPN2.
When I wasn’t fighting the Direct TV satellite, I was really impressed with Dez Wells – very athletic. They were talking about Tu Holloway’s work ethic rubbing off on Wells. That has to be music to Chris Mack’s ears.
My only concern would be the way they came out to start the second half. Up 18 at the half, the lead was down to 4 in about 3 minutes. Have to start the second half stronger than that.
Dez Wells, Dee Davis and Travis Taylor are doing such a good job that guys like Jeff Robinson and Brad Redford are barely getting of the bench.
I understand your concern with Xavier’s play in the second half. My concern might be that they peak too early.