Some wins are more frustrating than others.
Travis Steele's opening remarks to his post-game press conference on Wednesday following a narrow – more narrow than it should have been – 68-66 win over Butler relayed that message.
"I hate it when you win and it doesn't feel like you won," said Steele. "Every game is hard in this league. You want to celebrate every win that you can get. Anybody can beat anybody on any given night but we gotta put 40 minutes together. We gotta grow up. We have to mature.
"We have to learn how to finish games a heck of a lot better than we did tonight."
No. 21 Xavier got off to a much better start than it had been recently, snapping a streak of six straight games where the Musketeers trailed at halftime.
With a 29-26 lead at the break, Xavier opened the second half with strength, building a 49-34 lead that carried the Musketeers into a comfortable position that was maybe too comfortable because the Bulldogs proceeded to chip away and closed the gap in the closing minutes, turning what looked like it would be a double-digit win for the Musketeers into a tense ending for the home team.
"Whether it was our shot selection, learning to play with the lead, whether it was just being careless with the ball ... playing (poor) defense at the other end," said Steele. "I don't care if we're trying to take away 3s or not, then the half slap on the ball giving up and-ones, not blocking out on free throws, not making free throws.
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"Those are the things I've got in my mind right now and I'm frustrated."
Steele said he thought his team put together 34 or 35 good minutes of basketball, but the way it ended marred the win.
"It's inexplicable," said Steele on the ending. "We gotta be better. That's on me. We're gonna show the film. We're gonna work on it. We're not gonna finish that way ever again."
For as rough as the end was, it took away from a solid performance up until that point on a night when Xavier didn't shoot the ball well from the perimeter (3-for-17 from beyond the arc).
Despite the poor shooting, Xavier's defense played well and Zach Freemantle played his best game of the season, certainly his most efficient, with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers.
"It always feels great to play well on top of getting the win," said Freemantle. "But you can't get too high or too low in this league, you gotta move on to the next one. We've got a good opponent coming in on Saturday so it's time to just prepare for that."
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Freemantle played with authority at both ends. He was active, energetic and his touch was there around the basket which allowed him to score with relative ease.
Steele said, "(Zach's) gaining that confidence and that rhythm. I think fans, and even us as coaches, we forget how hard it is to sit out five months and then be thrown into the fray in high-major basketball in the best league in the country.
"He's harder on himself than anybody else. Zach holds himself to a really, really high standard and I'm just proud of Zach that he's been able to embrace those plateaus and the valleys and find his way out."
Wednesday's win was only the second time all season that Xavier's had only one player score in double figures. The other time that happened was against Virginia Tech when Nate Johnson scored 30 points.
Even though Freemantle was the only one in double figures, Xavier got important contributions from its other parts to help hold on.
Paul Scruggs had nine points and five assists, Jerome Hunter added eight points, Adam Kunkel and Colby Jones each had seven and Kunkel pulled down a career-high seven rebounds.
It wasn't the complete game Xavier was looking for, but it's a win and in February and those are always important. The Musketeers are 16-5 overall and 6-4 in the Big East Conference.
Xavier is scheduled to host DePaul on Saturday at 2 p.m.
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