Arizona vs. Xavier: Score and Twitter Reaction from March Madness 2015

The No. 2 Arizona Wildcats fought off the No. 6 Xavier Musketeers to earn a close 68-60 victory Thursday night to advance to the Elite Eight of the 2015 NCAA tournament.

For much of the game, it seemed as though neither team wanted to win. Arizona looked good in the first half but threw away a slim lead, allowing the Musketeers to tie the game heading into halftime. Meanwhile, Xavier was the better team for large stretches of the second half, but it went seven-and-a-half minutes without a made field goal as Arizona took a 64-57 lead with two minutes remaining.

A three-pointer from Myles Davis helped give the Musketeers some life with 1:31 remaining, but he missed a jumper on the next possession that would've cut the deficit to two.

From there, T.J. McConnell and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson each knocked down a pair of free throws to secure the victory.

Foul shooting played a key role in the Wildcats' comeback as they hit 12 straight from the charity stripe in the final 6:11.

McConnell went a perfect 4-of-4 from the line en route to scoring 17 points. He also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists to round out a strong all-around performance.

Kaleb Tarczewski also played a big role in the win, registering a double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds).

Arizona head coach Sean Miller will likely have some conflicting emotions after this win. He coached for five years at Xavier before making his way to Tucson.

Before the game, Miller spoke about the joy he still has thinking back to his days with the Musketeers, per Shannon Russell of The Cincinnati Enquirer:

"

I'm proud of just looking at where their program is. It's done nothing but just increase and get better. Chris (Mack) has done just a great, great job. The hardest part for me, and I try not to think about it, is I coached a lot of players at Xavier.

There are a lot of players that you grow to love that perform, play in big games, give everything like Stanley Johnson gives to me in Arizona. There are so many guys that I watched through four or five years give their heart and soul to make the program what it is.

"

Between that and the tough nature of the win, there's little doubt that Miller will be extremely happy to see his team advance. The Wildcats haven't had to fight harder to earn a victory this year.

Arizona also had a bit of a scare in the first half when Stanley Johnson inadvertently tripped Hollis-Jefferson. The sophomore forward's right leg bent awkwardly, and he crumpled to the floor.

Many fans likely expected the worst when the fall happened, and the visual of seeing Hollis-Jefferson screaming in agony didn't help. However, ESPN's Myron Medcalf reported that he exited the court under his own power.

Hollis-Jefferson returned to the court in the first half and finished the first 20 minutes with two points.

Arizona owned the advantage for much of the first half and never once trailed. But a poor finish helped to negate the Wildcats' earlier progress and inspire some confidence in the Xavier players.

The Pac-12 champions headed into the locker room of a tie game having failed to score a single point for the final 3:51 of the half.

ESPN's Jeff Goodman wanted to be a fly on the wall as Miller spoke to his players at halftime:

In the first half, Arizona shot 12-of-32 from the field as a team, and Johnson was the lone Wildcat to register more than four points. Xavier's defense was great throughout the half and peaked during the final four minutes.

Along with the defense, a big reason the Musketeers fought back to tie the game was the play of Matt Stainbrook. The senior big man had 10 points and seven rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.

Synergy Sports added that those numbers don't illustrate how much Stainbrook influences a game:

ESPN's Kevin Pelton joked that Stainbrook is sitting atop the "-brook" surname rankings:

Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis was also encouraged by the way in which Xavier closed the first half, but he wondered whether Stainbrook could continue to be as physically imposing in the final 20 minutes:

The second half was a pure knock-down, drag-out affair. Xavier's 1-3-1 zone continued to befuddle Arizona, while the Musketeers couldn't find the kind of consistent perimeter shooting that would allow them to obtain a steady lead.

Davis was a bit surprised at Arizona's sustained failure to break down the zone:

Both CBS Sports' Sam Vecenie and Yahoo Sports' Jeff Eisenberg felt that the Wildcats should've counted themselves a bit lucky that they didn't find themselves down by a sizable margin in the second half:

"

Where I’m at with this game: seems like Xavier should be leading by way more, but Arizona also hasn’t looked in any way like it will win.

— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) March 27, 2015"

Brian Snow of Scout felt Arizona needed to devise a different game plan since its Plan A was clearly not working:

But as bad as the offense was for much of the second half, the Wildcats' perimeter defense helped keep them in the game and ensure that the deficit never grew to an insurmountable level.

When Arizona took the lead late, it came up with enough defensive stops to keep Xavier at bay. The victory was far from the most impressive of the Wildcats' season, but it counts all the same.

Arizona will play the Wisconsin Badgers, who themselves won in somewhat uninspiring fashion, in the Elite Eight on Saturday. The two teams played in the Elite Eight last year, with the Badgers winning 64-63 in overtime.

When the tournament draw was made, most fans agreed that Wisconsin vs. Arizona was a dream matchup in the West Region, and that's exactly what fans are getting. Buckle up for what promises to be a wild rematch.