(11) Marquette 66 (6) Xavier 55

Seeded 11th and essentially playing a road game against an opponent that boasts a wealth of NCAA Tournament experience - and success - the Marquette Golden Eagles showed they indeed belonged on the big stage.

Hitting on all cylinders on offense and playing stifling defense, MU had little problem in rolling over sixth-seeded Xavier, 66-55, in a second-round matchup Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

Darius Johnson-Odom scored a game-high 19 points and Jimmy Butler 15 as the Golden Eagles (21-14) won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2009. Butler also did a bang-up job defensively, holding Xavier's leading scorer, guard Tu Holloway, to just five points on 1-for-8 shooting.

MU advanced to face third-seeded Syracuse in a third-round game at 6:40 p.m. Sunday. The Golden Eagles beat their Big East rival, 76-70, on Jan. 29 at the Bradley Center.

“I thought collectively we played really well,” said a hoarse MU coach Buzz Williams afterward. “We're thankful to still be playing.”

Xavier (24-8), which had advanced to the Sweet 16 in each of the last three seasons, came into Friday's game with a huge advantage in postseason experience. Underscoring that divide was Musketeers senior guard Dante Jackson, who was playing in his 11th NCAA Tournament game.

The five MU players who had played in the tournament boasted just seven games of experience. That, combined with a heavily partisan Xavier crowd - Cleveland is four hours northeast of the school's hometown of Cincinnati - figured to give the Musketeers the mental and emotional edge.

The Golden Eagles, though, were having none of it.

With the 6-foot-7 Butler setting the tone by shadowing the 6-0 Holloway everywhere he tried to go, and his teammates playing Xavier's numerous screen-and-roll plays to perfection, the Golden Eagles held the Musketeers to just 30.8% shooting in the opening 20 minutes.

Holloway, the Atlantic 10 player of the year who came in averaging 20.2 points per game, missed all five shots he took while never taking a seat on the bench. Throw in three turnovers to go along with two assists, and it was little wonder Xavier headed into halftime trailing, 33-20.

The blame couldn't be transferred completely to Holloway. His running mate and the team's second-leading scorer, Mark Lyons, spent 15 minutes on the bench after picking up three quick fouls.

“It gave us a tough way to go in the first half,” said Xavier coach Chris Mack. “And I thought that was really the difference in the game.”

Without Lyons to worry about, and no one else other than center Kenny Frease picking up the offensive slack, MU was able to play fast and free. Williams rotated 10 players compared to the seven Mack used, and each made a contribution.

A 13-2 run over the final 5 minutes 2 seconds sparked by six points from Johnson-Odom gave the Golden Eagles their 13-point lead going into intermission. Had they not committed nine turnovers their lead could have been much bigger.

As has been the pattern in past defeats - both this season and last, especially in its heartbreaking 80-78 loss to Washington in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament - MU opened the second half strong, only to see its opponent use a run to get back into it.

This time, the Golden Eagles led by as many as 18 with 13:31 left before the Musketeers suddenly found the range. Roughly 5 minutes later a 7-2 mini-run by Xavier had trimmed MU's lead to 51-43.

A Johnson-Odom three got the Golden Eagles back on track, though, and before long they had their lead back up as high as 15 points. A couple free throws at the 3:12 mark got Xavier back to within 60-51, but Johnson-Odom delivered again, this time with a layup and then a pair of free throws.

Finally, MU could exhale. It had held the Musketeers to 41.2% shooting overall and won its opening game in the NCAA Tournament for the third time since the Final Four run of 2003.

“When they went on the run, it was just good players making good plays,” Williams said. “I thought our guys responded.”

The Golden Eagles are expecting another big-time battle against Syracuse.

“We expect them to come out and try to hit us in the mouth as hard as possible,” said Johnson-Odom, who passed 1,000 career points. “We know it's another Big East matchup, and it's cutthroat for us.”

Andrew Taylor led Xavier with 16 points.