BUFFALO, N.Y. — There's no denying that Da'Sean Butler's presence is the key reason why West Virginia has advanced to the East Regional semifinals.

The one thing the senior guard would quibble with is that the second-seeded Mountaineers (29-6) are a one-man show.

"In reality, there's been a ton of games this year where they carried me," Butler said, noting how his teammates stepped up when he was limited to nine points in the Mountaineers' tournament-opening 77-50 win over Morgan State on Friday.

It was a different story against Missouri on Sunday. When West Virginia needed an answer to Missouri's uptempo defense, Butler scored 19 of his 28 points in the first half in leading the Big East Conference champions to a 68-59 victory.

"He's the 'Magic Man," guard Darryl Bryant said of Butler, who has scored six game-winning baskets this season, including a running jumper with 4 seconds left in a 60-58 win over Georgetown in the Big East tournament title game.

"He shows up when we need him," Bryan added. "That's really the only thing that counts."

West Virginia, now 10-0 at neutral sites this season, advances to face No. 11 seed Washington at Syracuse in the regional semifinals on Thursday. It marks the fifth time the Mountaineers reached the round of 16.

Butler was a sophomore on the 2008 team that made it, a squad which was led by Joe Alexander. And Butler believes this team might be deeper, given the trio of sophomores — Bryant and forwards Devin Ebanks and Kevin Jones — who are making key contributions this year.

"These guys understand pretty much that they're ahead of their class in a way," Butler said.

Jones had 13 points and nine rebounds and Ebanks added 14 points and seven rebounds.

With the win, West Virginia matched a school record for victories set in 1958-59, the season the Mountaineers, led by Jerry West, went 29-5 and lost in the NCAA championship game.

Michael Dixon scored 15 points for Missouri (23-11), which was undone by an overall poor shooting performance. The Tigers went 20 of 61 from the field and were just as bad from the free-throw line, where they went 12 of 20.

"It's tough to win when you have guys shooting 2 for 9, 3 for 8," Tigers forward Keith Ramsey said. "It's tough and it's frustrating. If those shots had fallen, you'd probably be talking about us winning."

Missouri was denied a chance to return to the round of 16 in consecutive seasons, after they reached the regional finals last year.

Butler accounted for nearly two-thirds of the Mountaineers' 30 points in the first half, and played a key role in breaking down Missouri's high-pressure defense, which was dubbed "The Fastest 40 Minutes of Basketball."

"We didn't really panic," Butler said. "We just stepped up to the challenge and played like men and broke the press."

The Mountaineers never trailed, though the game wasn't decided until the final 4 minutes after Zaire Taylor's 3-point basket cut the lead to 56-53.

Butler hit two free throws at the other end. Then, after Missouri's Kim English missed a 3-point attempt and Ramsey couldn't control the rebound, Ebanks hit one of two free throws to put West Virginia up 59-53.