Fifth-year forward Jahmyl Telfort had 20 points in the loss to Xavier. Photo by Andrew Buckley.

CALEB DENORME | MANAGING EDITOR | [email protected]

The men’s basketball team fell again to rival Xavier 91-78, this time at home in front of a packed Hinkle Fieldhouse. On a night that honored the seniors – forwards Jahmyl Telfort, Pierre Brooks, Patrick McCaffery and center Andre Screen – the Bulldogs were a no-show.

It was a tightly contested first half, but the Musketeers asserted their dominance in an explosive second half showing. Xavier scored 47 points in the second half and routinely soared to the basket for emphatic slams. The Hinkle crowd was out of the game a mere two minutes into the second half.

In a brutal but fitting end to Butler’s home slate, let’s go beyond the box score.

Streaky first half shootout 

Both offenses were in rare form in the first half, dueling back and forth with a number of runs. After the first five minutes, the squads were deadlocked at 14 and were both hitting shots from everywhere on the court.

At one point, the Bulldogs were shooting 80% from beyond the arc to keep up with Xavier’s red-hot offensive output. That trend would die out though. Over the next six minutes, the Musketeers built a 10-point lead courtesy of a 14-4 run.

Butler head coach Thad Matta was high on Xavier, giving the Musketeers lofty praise for the offensive showing.

“Xavier is playing as well as anyone in the country right now,” Matta said. “They’re a heck of a basketball team right now.”

Butler’s defense remained sluggish, but when the offense went missing, Xavier took advantage. The Musketeers had the cleaner first half with only two turnovers compared to Butler’s five, but that did not stop the Dawgs from staging a few runs of their own. 

The Bulldogs outscored Xavier 22-16 in the final 9:31 of the first half courtesy of some hot shooting from McCaffery and a string of Musketeer scoring droughts. 

Butler has been streaky all year, but the first half of this game ended up being the pinnacle of streakiness. Both teams could not find a consistent rhythm on offense, which led to a back-and-forth game.

In the end, the Bulldogs went into the locker room down by four, but that number would soon inflate to an embarrassing proportion in front of a home crowd.

A depressing ending to a severely underwhelming year

Butler had its sights set on an improvement in Matta’s third year at the helm, but those aspirations were quickly put on hold after alarming early-season losses to Austin Peay and North Dakota State. 

Although the Bulldogs beat Northwestern and Mississippi State en route to an Arizona Tip-Off championship, there were always questions surrounding the team. Early season highs and lows are typical for any college basketball team, but how would the Dawgs respond to a daunting Big East slate?

Butler fans got their answer as fall turned into winter when the Bulldogs started conference play with six losses, part of a bigger nine-game stretch. Those losses were mired with squandered leads, blowouts and poor basketball.

The harsh reality is that Butler’s regression has been a season-long escapade. The Bulldogs had flashes of talent – especially from team leaders Telfort and Brooks – but there was always a sense that the final product was not refined. 

With the four seniors leaving after this season, Matta reflected on what Telfort, Brooks, Screen and McCaffery meant to the program despite the lackluster season.

“I love these guys,” Matta said. “They’ve been great teammates [and] they worked hard. It [is] hard for me to see those four guys go even though we’ve only had them for a little bit of time. I’ll miss these guys.”

When Matta returned to his alma mater there were dreams of NCAA Tournament appearances and getting back to the glory days, but in year three the Dawgs are no closer to accomplishing that feat.

With a talented senior class exiting with no real team accolades to show, a longer rebuild is on the horizon. For now, it will be back to the drawing board for Matta and Co., seeking to make true on the promises given in the summer of 2022. 

As stated in the opening home hype video displayed in Hinkle before every home game, Butler is made by history. The problem with history is that it is in the past, and dwelling on the past will never bear fruit to a brighter future.