Xavier Musketeers
Opportunity knocks, Xavier answers
By Katie Budke, CNATI.com Posted February 28, 2010 7:19 PM ET
At the beginning of season, you could sense the uncertainty on Victory Parkway. Under first-year coach Chris Mack would the Musketeers make the Big Dance? Would they contend for the Atlantic 10 title?
The Xavier Musketeers were coming off a season in which they advanced to the Sweet 16. The previous season, they advanced to the Elite 8. Former coach Sean Miller packaged up that success and took on a new opportunity in the desert. His decision to leave was a factor in Derrick Brown's decision to opt out of his senior season and declare for the NBA draft. A young Musketeer squad led by a lone senior and a new coach had a treacherous schedule staring them in the face. And that was before anyone knew the A-10 would enjoy a breakthrough season.
With a 78-76 double overtime defeat of the No. 23 Richmond Spiders Sunday afternoon in front of a raucous crowd at Xavier's Cintas Center and an ESPN2 audience, the Musketeers (21-7, 12-2) now control their own destiny in a conference that legitimately features five NCAA Tournament invites.
By no means did the Musketeers play their best game of the season Sunday. A Xavier team that ranks third in the nation in 3-point defense holding opponents to 28.2 percent from behind the arc, allowed the Spiders to go 8 of 17 from 3-point land in the first half. The Musketeers struggled from 3-point range converting only 5 of 21 shots. They dished out only seven assists all game and turned the ball over 20 times. Leading scorer Jordan Crawford was nonexistent offensively the final 14 minutes of regulation and both overtimes. Again, Xavier played without the services of their 3-point threat Brad Redford.
Twice the Musketeers had opportunities to win the game, once at the end of regulation and again at the end of the first overtime. Both times Xavier called upon Crawford, who has been so consistent at breaking the opponent's back at the end of games. Both times he came away empty-handed.
It's what the statistics don't show that should give Xavier fans confidence as the calendar flips to March.
"Our kids kept on saying in all the different huddles we had down the last 10 or 12 minutes of regulation and overtime, 'Hey, we've been here before, we've been here before,'" Mack said. "I think it says our kids have been hardened by the experiences they had earlier on in the season and they just refuse to lose."
Those experiences come from a daunting nonconference schedule that looked like it might break the team at the beginning of the season. Sunday marked the third time the Musketeers have participated in a double overtime thriller. In December they knocked off a ranked Cincinnati team at home. Two weeks later they lost to a tough Wake Forest team in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Musketeers endured a disheartening 69-68 loss at Butler on December 19.
Those games didn't break them, but as Mack said, they've hardened them. Those games no doubt have prepared them for those dramatic finishes in March Madness.
Sunday, even when everything wasn't going right for the Musketeers, when the Richmond defense was forcing turnovers, they never hit the panic button.
"Their defense is unique; they do a lot of switching and stuff like that, so I mean it's a credit to them and what they do. We stayed with it," Jason Love said. "We attacked them on the glass, you know, shared the ball and stayed with it throughout the game."
Xavier outrebounded the Spiders by a 47-35 margin. When Crawford couldn't get his shots to fall, point guard Terrell Holloway picked up the slack scoring 11 of his 24 points in the overtimes and propelling Xavier to victory.
With two more conference games remaining on the schedule, the Musketeers sit atop the A-10 standings alongside No. 20 Temple. Both teams sport a 12-2 conference record.
"This is a big win. I mean you got us, Temple and Richmond, kind of in a three-way race to see who's going to win the title. Just winning this game kind of put it you know these last two games of the season in our own hands," Love said. "We don't have to be looking up at the scoreboard seeing who lost and who won. It's about us. Just keep winning games."
When Love was asked if Sunday's win was considered an upset, Crawford and Holloway both emphatically shook their heads saying, "No," before the senior could even answer.
Not only are Musketeers peaking on the court, but the younger players clearly have a grip on the implications that accompany games this time of the year. The two sophomores didn't allow Richmond's national ranking of 23 to factor into the response.
"I think we're a very good team and we're 13-0 at home," Crawford said. "I don't think it was an upset. We haven't lost at home."
Love picked up his 103rd win in a Musketeer uniform, tying the school record set by B.J. Raymond last season.
Love claims he didn't realize he was that close to the milestone, but felt at the beginning of the season, he would easily break the record.
"I felt I was gonna do it from the beginning of the season, you know because I have so much confidence in this team," Love said. "It's definitely a great attribute to my career. So many great players come through here so I just thank my teammates for helping me to reach this milestone, just keep moving forward, keep getting wins."
The team that was surrounded by uncertainty at season's beginning has the potential to end the regular season with a six-game winning streak heading into the A-10 Tournament. Three of those wins came on the road against Florida, Charlotte and Saint Louis. While last year the Musketeers seemed to fold at the end of season winning only four of their last eight games, the current team seems to be hitting its stride.
"We try to keep our practices short and purposeful, but always having the understanding that we're going to continue to get better, "Mack said. "We've been able to do that and I hope we are able to continue to do that because this is the fun part coming up."
Categories: College, Featured Stories, Men's Basketball, News, Xavier Musketeers
Tags: Chris Mack, Xavier
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