
Xavier Musketeers at Texas Longhorns
· Men's Basketball Championship - Midwest Region - First FourMarch Madness: Xavier rallies to beat Texas 86-80 in First Four

The Musketeers (22-11) erased a 13-point deficit in their biggest comeback win this season and advanced into the main bracket of the NCAA Tournament to play No. 6 seed Illinois on Friday night in a Midwest Region game at Milwaukee.
“That’s one of the greatest games I’ve ever been a part of,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “I thought we beat an excellent Texas team. They are disciplined. They have depth and talent. We knew it was going to be a great challenge to beat a really good team from the SEC. I’m really proud of our team.”
Tre Johnson led the Longhorns (19-16) with 23 points in a matchup of No. 11 seeds. Tramon Mark scored 16.
Freemantle hit a turnaround jumper to break a 78-all tie with 1:48 remaining and his two free throws extended Xavier's lead to 82-79 with 1:09 left. Johnson missed a fadeaway jumper, and Dailyn Swain's putback of Freemantle's missed 3-pointer upped the margin to five with 20 seconds to play.
Chendall Weaver made one of two free throws for Texas before Freemantle's dunk sealed it. Xavier closed the game on a 16-6 run over the final six minutes.
Freemantle arrived at Xavier in 2019. He sat out last season because of injury and returned for a fifth season of competition with the hope of playing in his first NCAA Tournament.
“Storybook, maybe not,” he said. “Obviously, we would have liked to maybe win by a little more. But any win we can get is a great thing. It was a very hard-fought game. That’s a very good team we just played, and I’m just thankful to be a part of it.”
Foster shot 8 for 9 from the field, including 4 of 5 on 3s, and finished with eight rebounds.
Freemantle, who averaged 19.8 points during the Musketeers' seven-game winning streak to close the regular season, had two points and two fouls in the first half. He picked up his fourth foul with 7:10 left.
Texas led 47-39 at halftime. It was the first time Xavier trailed at the break since a Jan. 29 loss at Creighton.
“I thought we had one of our better first halves of the year,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said. “Give them credit. They made big plays, big shots, and finished the game down the stretch.”
The Musketeers were down by 13 in the first half and still trailed by 10 with 16 minutes remaining. Jerome Hunter's 3-pointer tied the score at 65 with eight minutes left.
A 3-pointer by Oklahoma transfer John Hugley put the Musketeers ahead 75-74 with 5:07 to go.
It was the fourth time since 1990 the teams met in the NCAA Tournament, with each school winning twice.
What changed?
“I would just say our defensive intensity, getting more deflections,” Foster said. “When we get deflections, it’s hard to beat us. So we really just locked in on that. We understood that we really didn’t have much of a problem on offense, but a problem on defense. Once we addressed that, things started to go our way.”
“Our fans certainly took advantage of the proximity to Cincinnati,” Miller said. “And that emotion when we needed them, it was certainly a factor in the game.”
The Longhorns kept them quiet for much of the game, until the Musketeers rallied.
“I wish we would have had more Dayton fans than Xavier fans,” Terry said.
How can I watch Xavier vs. Texas?
Recent Plays
2nd 0:00 | End of Game | 86 - 80 |
2nd 0:00 | End of 2nd half | 86 - 80 |
2nd 0:01 | Zach Freemantle made Dunk. | 86 - 80 |
2nd 0:07 | Dailyn Swain Defensive Rebound. | 84 - 80 |
2nd 0:09 | Chendall Weaver missed Free Throw. | 84 - 80 |
Statistics
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---|---|---|
32-58 | FG | 27-55 |
55.2 | Field Goal % | 49.1 |
12-25 | 3PT | 8-17 |
48.0 | Three Point % | 47.1 |
10-16 | FT | 18-24 |
62.5 | Free Throw % | 75.0 |
28 | Rebounds | 33 |
4 | Offensive Rebounds | 9 |
24 | Defensive Rebounds | 24 |
17 | Assists | 11 |
6 | Steals | 5 |
2 | Blocks | 2 |
7 | Turnovers | 10 |
0 | Team Turnovers | 0 |
7 | Total Turnovers | 10 |
0 | Technical Fouls | 0 |
0 | Total Technical Fouls | 0 |
0 | Flagrant Fouls | 0 |
16 | Points Off Turnovers | 7 |
17 | Fast Break Points | 7 |
34 | Points in Paint | 36 |
18 | Fouls | 13 |
6 | Largest Lead | 13 |
Game Information

Location: Dayton, OH
Attendance: 12,546 | Capacity:
2024-25 Big East Conference Standings
TEAM | CONF | GB | OVER |
---|---|---|---|
St. John's | 18-2 | - | 31-5 |
Creighton | 15-5 | 3 | 25-11 |
UConn | 14-6 | 4 | 24-11 |
Marquette | 13-7 | 5 | 23-11 |
Xavier | 13-7 | 5 | 22-12 |
Villanova | 11-9 | 7 | 21-14 |
Georgetown | 8-12 | 10 | 18-16 |
Butler | 6-14 | 12 | 15-20 |
Providence | 6-14 | 12 | 12-20 |
DePaul | 4-16 | 14 | 14-20 |
Seton Hall | 2-18 | 16 | 7-25 |
2024-25 Southeastern Conference Standings
TEAM | CONF | GB | OVER |
---|---|---|---|
Auburn | 15-3 | - | 32-5 |
Florida | 14-4 | 1 | 34-4 |
Alabama | 13-5 | 2 | 28-9 |
Tennessee | 12-6 | 3 | 30-8 |
Texas A&M | 11-7 | 4 | 23-11 |
Ole Miss | 10-8 | 5 | 24-12 |
Kentucky | 10-8 | 5 | 24-12 |
Missouri | 10-8 | 5 | 22-12 |
Mississippi State | 8-10 | 7 | 21-13 |
Arkansas | 8-10 | 7 | 22-14 |
Georgia | 8-10 | 7 | 20-13 |
Vanderbilt | 8-10 | 7 | 20-13 |
Oklahoma | 6-12 | 9 | 20-14 |
Texas | 6-12 | 9 | 19-16 |
LSU | 3-15 | 12 | 14-18 |
South Carolina | 2-16 | 13 | 12-20 |