Xavier must have just been bored against lesser opponents over the past month, because they came out looking 100% more awake against Butler tonight. X was up 15-12 at the first media timeout behind a rush of buckets from JP and led by as many as 9 just over midway through the first half.
Butler battled back, because they’re good at basketball. The same dudes who just knocked off Nova weren’t going to go gentle into that good night, and they ripped off a 16-8 run to cut Xavier’s lead to 37-36. X came back with a quick 7-0 of its own in the last 90 seconds, keyed by 5 from Trevon Bluiett, to take an eight-point lead into the half.