Xavier battles Texas in First Four at UD Arena

DAYTON − During a nerve-wracking Selection Sunday, anxiety turned into jubilation for Xavier men’s basketball after the Musketeers were selected as a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Xavier (21-11) will try to play its way into the 64-team bracket Wednesday when the Musketeers face the Texas Longhorns (19-15) at UD Arena in the First Four at approximately 9:10 E.T.

The winner will move on to face No. 6 Illinois at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee Friday night in the Midwest region.

Xavier vs. Texas prediction: Who wins in 2025 First Four?

Follow live as The Enquirer provides real-time updates of Wednesday’s First Four from UD Arena.

Xavier came all the way back to tie it at 65-65 on a Jerome Hunter corner 3-pointer with 8:04 remaining. After a Texas bucket, Ryan Conwell was just fouled while shooting a triple and nearly got the friendly roll to go four a four-point play.

He’ll go to the free-throw line after the media timeout with a chance to give Xavier its first lead since the 15:55 mark in the first half.

Officials went to the monitor and determined it was a common basketball play that left Texas forward Kadin Shedrick down on the ground in pain. Dante Maddox Jr. found Marcus Foster for a lay-in to cut the lead to 62-54.

Texas freshman phenom Tre Johnson has eight of the Longhorns’ 15 second-half points. He is 5-for-9 from the field and just hit his third 3-pointer of the night to put Texas back up double figures.

Texas came out of the timeout and immediately drew up a set play that led to an Arthur Kaluma bucket down low. Tre Johnson later hit a corner 3-pointer, then a steal and slam by Kadin Shedrick pushed the lead back to double figures.

Marcus Foster connected on a 3-pointer from the wing to make it 57-50 heading into the first media timeout of the second half.

Xavier is on a 7-3 spurt to begin the second half. Zach Freemantle has scored five straight. The Xavier faithful at UD Arena were at its loudest when Dailyn Swain’s steal led to a Freemantle slam to cut the deficit to four and forced a Texas timeout.

Xavier is just 4-6 this season when trailing at halftime and haven’t trailed at the intermission since the loss at Creighton Jan. 29.

Xavier overcame an eight-point halftime deficit at home in a win over Villanova in January and trailed by a point to UConn at Cintas Center before pulling out a four-point win.

Xavier had a 7-2 run highlighted by Jerome Hunter’s second 3-pointer of the night but Texas grabbed momentum in the waning seconds of the first half when Tramon Mark hit a mid-range jumper before the horn.

Mark leads all scorers with 11 points while Tre Johnson has 10 for the Longhorns. Xavier has gotten 16 points off the bench from Dante Maddox Jr. (10) and Jerome Hunter (6).

Xavier’s offense overcame a slow start and shot 53.6% from the field in the opening stanza but couldn’t get consistent stops as this is the most points allowed in a first half by the Musketeers this season.

Xavier got into foul trouble with Freemantle picking up two and Ryan Conwell getting tagged with three.

Xavier finally turned defense into offense after a Jerome Hunter steal led to a Dailyn Swain lay-in. Dante Maddox Jr. leads Xavier with 10 points.

Marcus Foster has scored Xavier’s last four points and will go to the line following the final media timeout of the first half. Zach Freemantle and Dailyn Swain are checking back in for the Musketeers. Freemantle has just two points on 1-of-5 shooting.

Xavier is still struggling to get consistent stops as the Longhorns are 15-of-26 from the field. Tre Johnson leads the Longhorns with 10 points.

Texas is shooting 57.1% from the field (12-of-21) and is 4-of-7 from deep. The Longhorns will have a chance to match their largest lead of the game (13) with free throws coming out of the media timeout.

Xavier is just 8-of-20 from the field (40%). Dante Maddox Jr. leads the Musketeers with eight points.

Dante Maddox Jr. leads Xavier with six points on a pair of triples. Maddox connected on a 3-pointer, but Texas answered immediately with a trey from center Kadin Shedrick heading into the under-12 media timeout.

Tre Johnson is up to a game-high six points after hitting a contested three-pointer from the wing to force a Sean Miller timeout. The Longhorns are on a 13-2 run and Xavier leading scorer Zach Freemantle picked up his second foul with 9:31 left in the first half.

The pace is fast, but the offenses are not so far in Dayton. Xavier is 2-of-6 from the floor and Texas is 2-of-8. Ryan Conwell has all five points for Xavier with a nifty spin move in the paint and a wing 3-pointer. Texas got a three-point play from forward Arthur Kaluma.

Xavier starters: Dayvion McKnight, Ryan Conwell, Marcus Foster, Dailyn Swain, Zach Freemantle

Texas starters: Jordan Pope, Kadin Shedrick, Arthur Kaluma, Tramon Mark, Tre Johnson

Mount Saint Mary’s, champion of the MAAC, just defeated fellow No. 16 seed American University in Wednesday’s First Four opener.

Mount Saint Mary’s advances to play No. 1 Duke in-Raleigh, North Carolina.

Before the 2023 Sweet 16 showdown, Xavier beat Texas in 2004 to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history. In the first NCAA Tournament meeting between the two programs in 1990, Texas used a big second half to hold off Xavier in the 1990 Sweet 16.

In its last meeting against each other, Texas beat Xavier in the 2023 Sweet 16 in Kansas City, 83-71. The Longhorns shot 52.5% from the field and made 7-of-12 three-pointers to end the Musketeers’ season.

Forward Jerome Hunter is the only player from that matchup who will suit up Wednesday night. Hunter finished with three points and grabbed seven rebounds in the loss to Texas.

According to BetMGM Sportsbook, Xavier is a 2.5-point favorite over Texas and the total (over/under) is 151.5 points.

The Enquirer will update this story.