PHILADELPHIA, Pa. ‒ It looked and felt more stressful than it likely needed to be, but when the final buzzer sounded on Saturday evening at Finneran Pavilion, Xavier's men's basketball team was on the winning side, 88-80, securing a ninth straight win, a 5-0 start in Big East Conference play, and the first road win at Villanova since the 1955-56 season.
The final minute of the game felt like it lasted a lifetime. Villanova made it interesting by forcing a few Xavier turnovers and making shots on top of it, but as uncomfortable as it seemed, the Musketeers made their free throws to put it away.
"Kind of like a free-throw marathon," Xavier head coach Sean Miller said. "They made it really hard on us. They did a great job pressing, calling timeouts. And we're fortunate to have Souley Boum as our free-throw shooter. Because like virtually every player on Villanova's team, he's deadly from the line. As anybody knows that's followed us we've been in this situation a number of times where when he has the ball in his hands, it's such a weapon to have such a great free-throw shooter, especially under pressure, on your side.
"No doubt, we had to earn it. The (final) minute seemed to take 20 minutes but that's what happens when you play against a team that's used to winning."
Xavier held a 61-57 lead with 6:02 to play when Zach Freemantle exploded and scored eight straight points ‒ including two 3-pointers ‒ to push the lead to 69-60.
"I thought his two 3-point shots, in some ways, was the difference in the game," Miller said of Freemantle. "Just kind of broke it open. It gave us some production at a time when we really needed it.
"But Zach, playing in a game like that, 12-for-17 from the field, 2-for-2 from 3, he was 3-for-7 from the free-throw line or he would have had 30 (points). Had 11 rebounds, four assists with zero turnovers. In my mind, he was clearly the best player in the game."
Freemantle added another deep jumper and a couple of free throws to finish with a game-high 29 points in what may have been the best single-game performance of his Xavier career.
"My teammates, they got so much confidence in me, they're always looking for me," Freemantle said. "My teammates find me. I try to find them. It's just everyone's looking for the hot hand at all times."
Xavier finished with 22 assists on 31 made field goals.
Boum was instrumental in putting the finishing touches on the win, going 10-for-10 at the foul line with 22 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
On a night when Jack Nunge struggled with seven points on 3-of-10 shooting, the Musketeers got impactful contributions from Adam Kunkel and Colby Jones. Kunkel had 15 points and three 3-pointers. Jones contributed 11 points, four rebounds and six assists.
For a long time, Xavier's fan base liked to talk about the curse of playing at Villanova. Since joining the Big East, Xavier had never won a road game (0-8) at Villanova.
"I don't think I really needed to address it much simply because they know and that's to Villanova's credit ‒ what Jay Wright built here and what they've meant to the Big East Conference speaks for itself," said Miller. "We're not the only program that's had a tough time on this court or against Villanova.
"It always starts back over again. A year ago is a year ago. Three years ago is three years ago. Now is now. I think the team that we have, the way that we're playing speaks for itself on our end. The three road games we've played in the Big East ‒ at Georgetown, at St. John's and here today, our guys played well, played together, they fought against the crowd, the element, took the other team's runs and best shot, and have been able to come out on top."
Winning on the road in the Big East is difficult, Miller said. "We covet the three (road wins) that we have and obviously today's a part of that."
Xavier won eight conference games all of last season. The Musketeers have five already this season with 15 remaining.
"It's so important that you have a great process. This past week we didn't have a game. I thought our players did an outstanding job of showing up, working. And when we challenged them to not be bored, to push through, to practice hard. We did. I thought the efforts of the last five days allowed us to come in here today and be ready to go.
"We were ready. Whether we won or lost, Villanova was going to beat us, we weren't going to beat ourselves. And by the way, we didn't play a perfect game."
As for the bigger picture, Miller said, "We just can't let it become big. It's so much about right now. We have an opportunity to play Creighton at home. We have a great home crowd. Our students are on their way back. We have to take advantage of playing them at home. I look at Creighton, I watched a little bit of the UConn-Creighton game today and this conference is amazing. Every single game you're challenged in different ways. I look at Creighton as one of America's best teams. We're gonna have to play a great game. If we can't get over the fact that we just won this game well then we'll lose the next one."
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