CINCINNATI -- No Edmond Sumner. No problem this time for Xavier.

Remy Abell scored a career-high 21 points, and Trevon Bluiett and Jalen Reynolds each had 13 as No. 6 Xavier defeated ninth-ranked Butler 88-69 on Saturday before 10,498 fans, the second-largest crowd in Cintas Center history.

Xavier (13-1, 1-1 in the Big East) was coming off a 95-64 loss at No. 16 Villanova on Thursday in which Sumner, a redshirt freshman guard and the Musketeers' second-leading scorer and assists leader, was carted off on a stretcher after a scary collision with Wildcats forward Kris Jenkins.

"As poorly as we played at Villanova and the traumatic experience of losing Ed the way we did, I wasn't going to go into the locker room and rant and rave," coach Chris Mack said.

"I had enough evidence over two and a half months. ... I felt like our response would be good.”

It was announced Saturday that Sumner met with the school's medical staff and was in concussion protocol. His status is day-to-day.

Even without Sumner, Xavier had plenty of firepower on Saturday.

Forward James Farr made his first start and scored eight points with 10 rebounds and freshman forward Kaiser Gates had a career-high 10 points, including two 3-pointers.

"Sometimes injury for one is opportunity for another," Mack said.

Butler coach Chris Holtmann went with a makeshift lineup to try to avoid a second straight Big East Conference loss for his team, with forward Austin Etherington and guard Jordan Gathers getting starts.

"I thought we had some guys who played aggressive and physical on Thursday (in a loss to Providence) and we were just rewarding those guys," Holtmann said. "We've got to get a lot better."

Senior guard Roosevelt Jones led Butler (11-3, 0-2) with 14 points on Saturday and was among five Bulldogs in double figures.

Butler guard Kellen Dunham, among the players who didn't start, snapped out of his 3-point shooting slump, going 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and finishing with 13 points.

Dunham entered Saturday's game 0-for-21 from 3-point range. He came on with 14:30 remaining in the first half and broke the skid moments later from the right baseline.

"The deal with Kellen is ... he's got to play the rest of the game for us, he's got to defend at a high level, not just make shots," Holtmann said.

Xavier went with a taller lineup and the Musketeers' length bothered Butler for much of the game.

The Bulldogs shot 38.7 percent from the field, their second-lowest shooting percentage this season.

Reynolds hit a rainbow 3-pointer, his first this season, to put Xavier ahead 29-17 with 8:58 remaining in the first half.

Reynolds' shot ignited the crowd, but not so much Mack.

"He knows if that doesn't go in, he’s coming out," Mack quipped. "He stayed out of foul trouble, that was the big thing. He played 28 minutes, which is really good for our team."

Abell who has struggled at times offensively this season, scored 14 of his points, including two 3-pointers in the first half.

"Everybody had to step up," Abell said. "My teammates did a great job of finding me and I was able to hit some shots."

The Bulldogs trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, but cut the deficit to 34-31 on a 3-pointer by Dunham, who had eight points before halftime.

Myles Davis' 3-pointer on an inbounds pass beat the first-half buzzer to put Xavier ahead 45-35 at halftime.

The junior guard scored 11 points in the game and was 3-of-6 from 3-point range.

It was the most first-half points the Bulldogs had allowed this season.

Defense sparked Butler in the second half, forcing Xavier into four turnovers and a shot-clock violation in the first four minutes after halftime.

The Bulldogs responded with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 49-45.

But the Musketeers took control from there.

Farr who had a strong performance after starting the game 1-for-6 with two turnovers, dunked off a rebound, and Gates followed with his second career 3-pointer to give the Musketeers a 62-52 lead with under 10 minutes left.

"What makes us so good is how much depth we have on our team," Davis. "Guys came ready to play. We didn't need to say anything about Ed going down. As horrible as the loss to 'Nova was, guys were going to step up."

NOTES: In addition to redshirt freshman G Edmond Sumner, the Musketeers also were without freshman F Makinde London because of an undisclosed injury. ... Butler G Kellen Dunham was benched at the start because he was mired in a 2-for-32 shooting slump from 3-point range. ... Xavier has won 15 of the last 19 games against Butler and leads the series 36-18. ... It was the first time two teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 squared off at Cintas Center.