many basketball commentators picked utep to pull the upset, and at halftime it looked like they might be right, as utep led 33–27. stevens made a number of halftime adjustments, and the bulldogs came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. the team dominated the second half and won the game 77–59. butler next faced off with thirteenth seeded murray state. the game was close throughout, but butler emerged victorious 54–52 when hayward deflected a murray state pass into the back court with less than five seconds on the clock. the win gave stevens the first sweet sixteen appearance of his career.