Xavier Beats Texas in March Madness First Four, Thrills CBB Fans with Comeback Win

Xavier went from barely getting into the 2025 NCAA men's basketball tournament to dramatic Big Dance victors Wednesday.

The Musketeers overcame a 13-point deficit and defeated Texas 86-80 in the First Four at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, in a battle of Nos. 11 seeds. They will now face sixth-seeded Illinois in the round of 64 in the Midwest Region.

Marcus Foster (22 points, eight rebounds and 4-of-5 three-pointers) and Zach Freemantle (15 points) spearheaded the comeback as two of five Xavier players to score in double figures. While Tre Johnson (23 points and six rebounds) played well for the Longhorns, he was unable to make the winning plays in the final minutes.

As a result, social media was left praising the victors:

Neither program is a stranger to the March Madness stage, but it was Xavier that entered with momentum after it turned its 2024-25 around by winning its final seven regular-season games before a narrow loss to Marquette in the Big East tournament.

It was the opposite down the stretch for Texas, which went 8-13 following a promising 11-2 start and was just 6-12 in SEC play. The overall strength of the SEC certainly played a role in the league record, but that poor mark is why it was on the bubble in the first place.

Yet it was the Longhorns that set the early tone.

It didn't help the Musketeers' cause that their two best players in Freemantle and Ryan Conwell dealt with early foul trouble, but Texas jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half with an offensive explosion with Johnson leading the way.

Chendall Weaver also created havoc off the bench for the Longhorns, but it was a bench player on the other side that kept Xavier within striking distance. Dante Maddox Jr. carried the offense for stretches with Freemantle and Conwell on the bench and helped trim the halftime deficit to just eight.

That gave the Musketeers a chance with Freemantle and Conwell on the floor in the second half, and they responded with multiple spurts to fire up the largely pro-Xavier crowd. 

For as unstoppable as Johnson was as Texas was building the lead, the outside shooting of Musketeers role players such as Foster, Jerome Hunter and Maddox provided quite the counter as they came charging back to take the lead heading into the final minutes.

Texas also started to get sloppy with poor shot selection and turnovers, and the Big East representative consistently took advantage to put itself in position to complete the comeback win.

Xavier made the plays when the game was in the balance, whether it was a go-ahead shot from Freemantle or the defense swarming Johnson in crunch time. It will take a similar effort in the biggest moments against Illinois, but the Musketeers will have plenty of momentum heading into the round of 64.

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