By Luke Essig, Staff Writer

On March 19, Xavier faced off against the University of Texas at Austin in one of the First Four games of the NCAA Tournament which they won 86-80 before facing the University of Illinois who they fell to in the Round of 64, 73-86. 

The game was played at the University of Dayton, which is less than an hour away from Xavier, earning it the name “Cintas North” from many Musketeer fans. The close proximity meant that Dayton’s arena was packed with Xavier fans. 

Texas had total control of the game right from the tipoff. Within the first 10 minutes, graduate forward Zach Freemantle, sophomore guard Dailyn Swain and junior guard Ryan Conwell each had two fouls, causing coach Sean Miller to adjust his lineup for much of the game.

With nine points in the first half, the SEC’s Freshman of the Year and projected NBA lottery pick, guard Tre Johnson, was prepared to lead his team to the Round of 64 of the NCAA tournament. Through tough defense from Swain, Johnson scored 23 points, but very inefficiently. Seven of those points came from the free throw line, and the rest of the game he shot 6-14. 

Due to the early foul trouble the Musketeers found themselves in, there was a lot of rotation in the lineup and a lot of minutes played by some guys who normally do not see as much floor time as Freemantle, Conwell and Swain. Graduate guards Marcus Foster and Dayvion McKnight both played more than 30 minutes, something that they are not used to.

However, Foster took this opportunity and ran with it. The Furman transfer knows a thing or two about a dramatic underdog comeback win — he was on the 13-seed team that upset four-seed Virginia in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. With the same fire in his gut as he had when he scored 14 points in that upset, the usual eight-points-per-game-scorer had a season-high 22 points while scoring eight of his nine shots, four being three-pointers.

After trailing by 13 points at one point in the first half, Xavier cut the lead to eight going into halftime. After halftime, things started to ramp up for the Musketeers. The sound of the Xavier fans was deafening at times. Sports accounts posted about how loud the arena was when Xavier started to get hot well into the second half.They were able to get their offense started more consistently, but it felt as if every time they cut the lead to four or five points, the Longhorns would go on another run.

Xavier climbed and climbed and climbed and finally tied the game 65-65 with eight minutes left. The team traded buckets up until the final minute. Johnson had the chance to tie the game at 80 by making both of his free throws, but after the second came short, they were forced to foul in order to stop the clock. Freemantle made both of his free throws, expanding the lead to three points, and after Johnson missed another field goal, Xavier extended the lead again to five. 

After stealing the ball off of Texas in the final ten seconds, Freemantle concluded his first ever NCAA Tournament win with a thunderous dunk that seemed to shake Dayton’s arena and all fans watching.

The Musketeers then hopped straight on a bus to head to Milwaukee to play Illinois in the Round of 64 on March 21.

This game was a bit more clear-cut for the Musketeers. It felt like everything the Illini were doing was working. Slowing down NBA lottery pick projected guard Kasparas Jakučionis was enough of a problem for Xavier, but they could not slow any of Illinois’ players at all. Jakučionis, Ivišić, Riley and Boswell each had 15 or more points, which was ultimately enough to overpower the Muskies.

It seemed like the only person to show up for Xavier on Friday night was Swain. He scored a career-high 27 points and hit three three-pointers, his usual weak spot.

In seniors and graduate students’ Jerome Hunter, Bob Nunge, McKnight, Freemantle, Dante Maddox Jr., Brad Colbert and Foster’s last games at Xavier, the Musketeers fell to the Illini, 86-73.