College
Crawford storms the stage
By Paul Dehner Jr., CNATI.com Posted March 19, 2010 5:56 PM ET
MILWAUKEE - On his final shot of the day, Jordan Crawford found himself caught in a difficult position. Buried in the corner with the shot clock winding down, the Xavier guard faded back and lofted up a 3-point shot that splashed away Minnesota's postseason hopes.
As the dagger shot dropped, Crawford fell back into the arms of his teammates standing at the Xavier bench. The team he carried to a 65-54 win returned the favor.
A fitting ending. After all, with 28 points, six rebounds and five assists, this was Crawford's day. In theory, anybody could have knocked down the shot to secure Xavier's fourth consecutive first-round win. Anybody who knows more about Crawford than can be found in a grainy YouTube clip knows all to well nobody else was finishing off this game.
"I just knew he wanted that shot," Jamel McLean said. "He wants to be that player who puts the dagger in guys, who just wants to finish guys off. We were putting our foot on their throat and he just broke their necks with that shot."
On the national stage, Crawford once again became a known commodity. When he arrived at Indiana, he entered as a high-profile recruit expected to help lift the program back to prominence. After transferring to Xavier following Kelvin Sampson's demise, he watched from the sidelines for a year. After dunking on LeBron James in a summer camp, his two days of fame faded into a season toiling off the national radar in the Atlantic 10.
After Friday's show, his show is not going anywhere. Well, except almost certainly to the NBA. But that is a story for another day.
No other Xavier players touched double figures and the Musketeers rode Crawford's ebbs and flows like a flume at Kings Island.
When Crawford settled for 3-pointers in the first half and missed seven of 11 shots, Xavier slogged to a 26-all tie at the break.
When Crawford opened the second half with a drive and dish to Jason Love for an and-one bucket, a palpable energy entered the room.
Suddenly, the grimace and frustrated clap that marked his demeanor disappeared.
Once he coasted in transition and finished with an acrobatic, scoop layup, a confident strut arrived.
Then another knife through lane for two and a 3-pointer from the wing, another from the corner, a slick back cut pass for a Terrell Holloway layup.
Cue the full-on swagger.
"You don't feel the spotlight when you are on the court," Crawford said. "It is just a game. Then, once you get in the groove and make a couple shots, you can feel things going your way, you got to take advantage of it."
Thankfully for Xavier, he did. Crawford scored 17 points in the second half including 10 during an 18-10 run that delivered a lead the Musketeers never relinquished.
"You just wonder, 'Is he ever going to cool off?'" said Mark Lyons, who added a sweet spin move of his own for a second-half bucket.
"He was our hot hand," McLean said. "When you have an athlete like him who lives for these moments, it is hard to stop us."
On Thursday, Crawford admitted he doesn't view this as his team. He pointed to other leaders and players with more postseason experience and claimed despite averaging just shy of 20 points a game he didn't feel he needed to shoulder the load.
"I just want to contribute," he humbly said.
Knowing Crawford, it's hard to believe that's all he had in mind.
"Did you believe him when he said that?" Crawford asked. "We don't believe it, either. He is a competitor. He wants to be successful. He scores 30 and we lose, it is irrelevant. He can score 30 and we win, he can score 10 and we win, that is what he wants. He has become a great teammate. There is not another guy I am more proud of than him."
While fans were caught watching Crawford's theatrics, the rest of the Xavier players were not. Crawford's act may be enough to beat Minnesota, but when Xavier faces Pittsburgh on Sunday, it will take more.
Mack points out though Crawford scored nearly half of the team's points, the flow never disrupted. Crawford never drew a charge trying force a shot. He only committed one turnover to the five assists.
"We don't every want it to become an isolation show out there," Mack said. "And it hasn't. They weren't sitting around and watching Jordan. They don't do that and they don't stand, we can be so difficult to defend."
Almost as difficult as Crawford.
Almost.
"It is like watching somebody in a video game," Kenny Frease said. "He puts up video game numbers and, it is so fun to watch him play because you don't ever get used to seeing somebody do what he does."
Categories: College, Featured Stories, Men's Basketball, News, Xavier Musketeers
Tags: Chris Mack, Jamel McLean, Jordan Crawford, Xavier
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