MADISON, Wis. _ When Wisconsin eliminated Xavier from the NCAA Tournament two seasons ago, guard J.P. Macura sat down on the court and appeared stunned that the Musketeers' season was over.
Macura, now a senior guard, stood tall Thursday night at the Kohl Center and helped take down a Wisconsin team that took the 17th-ranked Musketeers into the final 2 minutes tied before falling, 80-70.
Macura contributed 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the Musketeers (3-0), who have four players back who started at least 13 games on the team that reached the Elite Eight last season.
UW (2-1) learned how hard it must compete and how well it must execute against one of the better teams on its schedule.
Senior guard Trevon Bluiett, who entered the night averaging 25.2 points per game and shooting 10 of 18 from 3-point range (55.6 percent) and 17 of 26 overall (65.4 percent), led Xavier with 25 points. He scored 21 in the second half, six of which came on critical back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 2 minutes to give Xavier a 72-66 lead.
Bluiett had scored 25 points in the opener against Morehead and 26 in Game 2 against Rider. Xavier hit the 100-point mark in both games, on a combined 60.9 percent shooting, with four players averaging at least 13.0 points per game.
Ethan Happ surpassed the 1,000-point mark at UW and finished with 21 points, eight assists and four rebounds. He hit 7 of 10 free-throw attempts.
Guard Brevin Pritzl added 13 points and freshman guard Brad Davison added 12, including 11 in the first half.
That trio combined to hit 16 of 33 shot. The rest of the team was a combined 9 of 28. UW hit 13 of 21 free-throw attempts and 7 of 24 3-point attempts.
D'Mitrik Trice added nine points and Khalil Iverson eight for UW.
Davison didn't single-handedly help UW erase a nine-point deficit over the 3:27 of the first half, but he clearly was the catalyst.
After Trice hit his first field goal to pull UW within 34-27, Davison stole the ball and scored to cut the deficit to 34-29.
Davison came up with another steal, was fouled and hit two free throws to pull UW within 34-31 with 2:33 left in the half.
Aleem Ford (six points) eventually forged a 34-all tie with a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left.
Davison prevented Xavier from taking a lead when he dropped down low to tip the ball away from center Sean O'Mara, who was rising up in the lane for a dunk.
Xavier got the ball out of bounds but failed to score and Trice missed a shot just before the first-half buzzer.
UW, which had only two leads, at 15-14 and 18-17, was back in the game.
Bluiett finally got on the board with a 3-pointer with 15:40 left to give Xavier a 43-42 lead. He added six more points to help the Musketeers push the lead to 60-54 with 7:33 left in the game.
UW refused to go away.
Happ scored on consecutive drives to pull UW within 63-61. Then with UW down by three, Happ passed out to Ford. Ford buried a 3-pointer for a 64-all tie with 4 minutes left.
After a Xavier timeout with 3:47 left, the Musketeers tried to get the ball to Macura in the lane. Happ read the play and went up to knock the ball way but hit Macura and was called for his fourth foul with 3:40 left.
Macura missed the first of bonus free throws and Ford was fouled going for the loose ball.
Ford missed both free throws but grabbed a long rebound. Trice missed a 3-pointer but Bluiett missed on the other end.
Trice hit a tough jumper for a 66-64 lead with 2:42 left but Bluiett hit two free throws with 2:25 left.
After Happ missed a left-handed hook in the lane, Bluiett buried a 3-pointer with 1:45 left.
After Davison lost the ball on a drive, Bluiett got an open 3-pointer from the corner and buried it with 1:05 left.
UW was down, 72-66, and out of comebacks.
