Xavier needing a zipping up against UConn in Charleston. They got one.

With 5 minutes left in regulation, Xavier was down 51-47 and the starting backcourt was in serious foul trouble. A defense that had allowed 21 points in 33 possessions in the first half had allowed 30 points in 21 possessions through 15 minutes of the second. It wasn't clear that Xavier could win even if UConn didn't score again, but it was sure that every point surrendered whittled deeply into the remaining 25% of win probability Xavier had retained.

Then the body bags came out.

In the final five minutes of regulation, Xavier held the Huskies to 1-8/1-2/2-2 shooting with just 1 offensive board and no turnovers. During that time, X clawed back to send the game to overtime.

Q fouled out 16 seconds into OT, before X even had a possession. Lacking a senior ball handler, the Muskies couldn't afford any mistakes on the defensive end. They basically didn't, holding UConn to 1-9/0-0/7-7 shooting with 2 TO and 2 OReb. That last offensive rebound combined with a heaping dose of confusion from the refs to get UConn into double OT and foul Paul Scruggs out of the game.

No sooner was the ball up in the third overtime period than Naji Marshall fouled out on an offensive foul call that was soft as room temperature butter. I don't think Xavier got hosed by the refs, by the way; I think that crew was sincerely bad both ways.

Anyway, it was ride or die time for Xavier and their five was Bryce Moore, Dah Bishop, Jason Carter, Zach Freemantle, and Tyrique Jones, playing through calf cramps. It didn't matter. The Huskies mustered just 2-8/0-2/5-5 shooting with 1 TO and 2 OReb in the final OT, and two free throws from Jason Carter with 10 seconds left were enough to give Xavier the one-point win.

In the final 15 minutes of the game, Xavier held UConn to a shooting line of 4-25/1-4/14-14, forced 3 turnovers, and beat the Huskies 20 to 5 on the glass on Xavier's defensive end. They also blocked 5 shots and gave up just 23 points in 28 possessions with the game on the line and the backcourt getting progressively thinner with each whistle. UConn scored 9 points on anything other than free throws over the course of 15 minutes of game time. If that's not a zipping up, I don't know what is.