DAYTON, Ohio – The comeback. The dunk. The eruption. The victory.
And then the chants that echoed throughout one of college basketball’s great venues late Wednesday night: Let’s go X! Let’s go X! Let’s go X!
It was goose-bumps special, perhaps one of the most memorable nights in Xavier University’s storied basketball history. It was the beauty of the NCAA Tournament on full display at sold-out UD Arena.
Zach Freemantle, of all people, put the exclamation point on Xavier’s 86-80 win over Texas in front of a Musketeer-friendly crowd in the First Four. The sixth-year forward – who had to overcome three foot surgeries and a coaching change before finally getting to play in the NCAA Tournament – let it all out with his emphatic two-handed dunk with one second left.
He hung on the rim. It was like a release, an exhale for a team that had been buried in a double-digit hole. The crowd got so loud you almost needed to plug your ears.
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It was March Madness kind of madness, as thousands of the Xavier fans who made the short drive up I-75 hung around and celebrated. Miller walked off the court with both arms held above his head, fists clinched as he looked up in the stands.
“That was one of the greatest games I’ve ever been a part of,” said Miller, who’s taken the Musketeers to the NCAA Tournament twice since returning for this second go-round at Xavier three seasons ago.
“It felt like a home game,” Xavier guard Marcus Foster said.
The Musketeers overcame a 13-point deficit against a rugged SEC team. Survive and advance. It seems like the Musketeers have been doing that for weeks. They had to overcome Freemantle’s knee injury in December. They had to overcome losing 4 of their first 5 Big East games, burying themselves in must-win mode by mid-February.
And Xavier just kept responding, winning seven straight games to close out the regular season. It was enough to narrowly get in the tournament as a No. 11 seed. But that’s all that matters. Just get in.
“Resilience,” Miller said. “It’s the badge of this team. Right when you think you count us out, we win.”
It was hard not to think Dayton was the end of the line for the Musketeers. The Longhorns were getting to the rim almost at will in the first half, scoring 26 of their 47 first-half points on layups and dunks.
It forced Xavier to show a different type of resilience. The Muskies weren’t used to coming back from big deficits. They were down eight points at halftime. It was the first time they’d trailed at half since the Jan. 29 loss at Creighton. For most of the season, Xavier’s struggle had been holding leads down the stretch of games.
But no way was one of college basketball’s most experienced teams rattled. Freemantle hit a turnaround shot on the block with 8:39 left to get Xavier within three points. Miller waved his arms up and down, energizing most of the 12,546 fans.
The crowd got loud.
Texas’s Arthur Kaluma dribbled the ball off his leg out-of-bounds on the Longhorns’ ensuing position.
The crowd got louder.
Jerome Hunter, one of eight graduate students on the Xavier roster, then drained a 3-pointer from the corner. Xavier 65, Texas 65.
The crowd went into berserk mode.
Big John Hugley IV hit a 3-pointer with 5:07 left, giving Xavier a 75-74 lead. It was the Musketeers’ first lead since early in the first half. Hugley, an Oklahoma transfer, had attempted just 16 three-pointers all season.
Meanwhile, another transfer, Foster, had his best game since coming to Xavier this season from Furman. He scored a team-high 22 points. Foster had scored 22 points combined in the previous five games.
This is part of the madness now. Transfers who struggled to adjust to a new team catching on and catching fire. Their years of experience showing on the big stage.
Every team in the tournament has that player. It’s part of what makes this tournament even harder to predict. But the way Xavier played down the stretch of the regular season and battled back here makes you think the Musketeers could be poised for a deep run.
Contact columnist Jason Williams at [email protected]
