CINCINNATI — Ugly wins count just as much as 30-point blowout wins. And when you’re trying to make a late-season push for the greatest American sports tournament, you’ll take them anyway you can get them.
On Wednesday night, the once-mighty three-time national champion Villanova Wildcats came into Cintas Center just as desperate as Xavier to get a win to continue their march toward Madness.
The winner would realistically have a path to get there. The loser would clearly be on the outside looking in.
In the end, Villanova gifted Xavier a win that the Musketeers were only too happy to receive.
Quincy Olivari scored 14 points and hit two key free throws late to lead Xavier past Villanova, 56-53, in a tense back-and-forth Big East battle. Xavier is now 13-10 and 7-5 in the Big East. The story of the game was really encapsulated in the final 18 seconds.
Olivari drained two free throws with 18.3 seconds remaining to put Xavier up 56-53 and Villanova inexplicably couldn’t get off a potential game-tying three as time ran out on the Wildcats.
It was inexplicable for a couple of reasons. Villanova had a timeout remaining that they could’ve easily used when it was apparent Xavier wasn’t giving them a clean look at a three. Villanova had plenty of time to get to the basket and score to make it a one-point game when there wasn’t a three to be had. And Xavier could’ve fouled with under 10 seconds left to prevent Villanova from getting off a desperation three.
But that was rendered moot when the Wildcats held the ball 35 feet from the basket as time expired.
“We were up three points. We don’t want them to shoot the three. We want them to drive it, if they drive it, we still win,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “So it ended up working out for us with the five players that were out there. Really just tried to smother the 3-point line. And you know the fact they didn’t get a shot up, maybe that had something to do with Villanova. But for us, even if they would have shot it. It would have been a very difficult shot so very pleased how we finished the game.”
“We came out. We ran a play. We had two options out of the play. I thought we were close to getting one. We had another shot. Thought about calling time out. I thought we were going to get a shot and we were close to it. We just didn’t get a shot off,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune told me.”
Was there a thought of calling that timeout once sharpshooter Brendan Hausen couldn’t get a clean look?
“Yeah. We ran a play and there were a couple of options out of the play,” Neptune said. “First one wasn’t there. I thought he was going to shoot it. And then we had another option. I thought he was going to shoot it again and he didn’t end up shooting it. Time just ran out.”
The result leaves Xavier in good position to continue its run up the Big East standings and hope for one of likely three remaining at-large tickets to the tournament in March. The loss leaves Villanova reeling, now 5-7 and clearly on the outside looking in, with a road game at No. 1 UConn still on their schedule.
“Right now with the way this league is these close games, it oftentimes comes down to that last play,” Miller said. “Keep in mind when we played Villanova the first time you know we really had in my mind three shots for us to take the lead in the last 24 seconds. We went 0-for-3 on those shots. So it was great for us to be able to win a close game against them here.”
It wasn’t all joy and glad tidings. Miller lit into Gytis Nemeiska during a timeout with under five minutes to play, when he played soft on back-to-back drives to the basket by Villanova that tied the game, 50-50. Dailyn Swain had the go-ahead dunk and Miller didn’t hold back postgame.
“Dailyn dunked the ball. He went stronger and those are the things that we’re trying to get Dailyn to do,” Miller said. “We needed Dailyn, too because you know, Gytis, he was terrible. He really was about as bad as you can play as a starter. We need him to play better, both on offense and on defense.
“And if Dailyn didn’t enter the game and play the role that he had, we would have been in big trouble because like we’ve done throughout the year, you look at that position right there. There are times we played a 40-minute game and we’ve we’ve almost gotten nothing from it. So when Dailyn came in, he not only did a great job, but he was subbing in for somebody who just didn’t have it tonight. And you know, hopefully Gytis can be better.”
No one has come to define these Musketeers more than the personable and affable Quincy Olivari. Coming off his career-best 43-point effort at DePaul, Xavier needed a different Olivari Wednesday night. And that’s what they got.
“There are going to be some wins where we score 70, 80 points and there’s gonna be some wins where your defense is gonna win the game,” Olivari told me. “And tonight our defense won the game. This is a testament to the hard work we put in over the summer and in a preseason. Sometimes we just need a perfect possession and other times where we say that we need to lock in on defense. So this is an example of us when we needed a stop, or when we needed to block out or double or trap or make sure we get a rebound, we got it.”
Olivari, who turned the tables on the media from the post-game dais by asking his own questions, was happy to please the blue collar Cintas crowd with a defensive stop in the final 18 seconds that sealed the win.
“It’s amazing. Defense wins championships,” Olivari said. “And at the Cintas Center is what brings the fans to the stance. Y’all love gritty, hard-working people. And that’s what defense is about.”
Desmond Claude added 11 for Xavier (13-10, 7-5), which won its third straight.
Brendan Hausen scored 15 and Eric Dixon added 13 for Villanova (12-11, 5-7), which lost for the sixth time in seven games.
Both teams struggled badly from the field as Xavier made just 21-of-61 from the field for 34.4 percent while Villanova was only 19-for-56 for 33.9 percent.
Xavier won for just third time in 10 all-time meetings with Villanova at Cintas Center and avenged a 66-65 loss at Villanova on Jan. 3.
Olivari, coming off a career-best 43-point effort against DePaul on Saturday, was the focus of a tight Villanova defense throughout the game.
Brendan Hausen, whose layup brought Villanova to within two, had a chance to tie the game with 35 seconds remaining but missed the second of two free throws to cut Xavier’s lead to one, 54-53.
Villanova had 18 seconds on their final possession & failed to even get a shot off.
Don't see this often.
Credit Xavier for locking-in on defense.Musketeers grind-out a tough win 56-53.@WCPO pic.twitter.com/ohabydGZIA
— Caleb Noe (@CalebNoeTV) February 8, 2024
Both teams came out cold to start the game as Xavier made just two of their first nine shots but managed a 19-9 lead on a steal and dunk from Dailyn Swain.
Villanova was even colder, making just one of their first nine shots and two of their first 12. But the Wildcats used a swarming half-court defense that saw Xavier miss their next seven shots from the field during a 13-0 Villanova run.
Villanova extended their lead to five, 28-23, and had a chance to add to it right before the half. But a bad pass from Eric Dixon led to a fast break chance and Olivari drained a three at the buzzer to close Villanova’s lead to 28-26 at the break.
Xavier used a 9-0 run to build a 42-35 lead as Villanova missed 14 of their first 16 shots from the field in the second half.
Villanova answered with a 15-8 run to tie it, 50-50, on consecutive layups by Hakim Hart and TJ Bamba. But freshman Dailyn Swain’s dunk put Xavier back on top, 52-50, with 4:18 remaining. Desmond Claude’s runner off the glass with 2:35 left gave the Musketeers a 54-50 lead.
