The Musketeers were up for the fight against the Golden Eagles, but familiar failings made this game another one to throw onto the “almost” pile.
Tonight’s game was never going to be the difference between Xavier making or missing the NCAA Tournament, it was already clear that winning the Big East Tournament is the only way the Musketeers go dancing this season. A win tonight over a top-10 Marquette team, albeit one without Tyler Kolek, could have given Xavier some momentum and a foundation upon which to launch a run at 4 wins in 4 days at the World’s Most Famous Arena. Instead tonights flawed but valiant performance compressed the frustrations and heartbreaks of a season of almosts into a perfect 40 minute package for the Cintas Center faithful to ponder as elimination basketball begins and the season rushes towards its conclusion.
Breaking from the trend established in the Georgetown and Butler games, Xavier came out looking ready for the fight against Marquette, although somewhat unequipped to deal with Kam Jones and Oso Ighodaro’s pick and roll combo. Over the first 15 minutes, there were 6 lead changes and 7 ties, with neither team pushing the margin beyond 4 points. Xavier was getting almost everything from the same 3 players who have been their stalwarts this season with a sprinkling of Trey Green (2/0/0) dynamism and cameos from a pair of other freshmen in Kach Nzeh (1/3/1) and Lazar Djokovic (9/6/2). Over a 4 minute stretch approaching halftime, Xavier went stone cold and surrendered a 12-3 run as their inability to force stops made them play offense in the half court and, ultimately, negated the team’s proficiency on the fast break. A pair of free throws from Dayvion McKnight (16/4/8), a notable absentee from tonight’s Senior Night festivities, and a three pointer as time expired from Quincy Olivari (32/4/3) gave Xavier a burst heading into the locker room and only a 4 point margin at the break.
A pair of Des Claude (15/2/2) driving layups out of the half helped Xavier avoid the sluggish start that has plagued them so often this year and Olivari’s barrage of 11 points and an assist over 2:40 of game time gave Xavier all the momentum and a 5 point lead as Xavier flipped the game completely on its head before the first media timeout. Olivari’s stepback with 13:40 left to play gave Xavier their largest lead of the night at 6 points and had the Cintas Center roaring and Marquette well and truly on their heels. Olivari’s thee from a Djokovic feed with 8:49 left would be Xavier’s next points and cut what had been a 4 point Marquette lead back to a single point. For nearly 5 minutes, Xavier once again could not find a way to get a basket to stop an opposition run. This has been a season full of games where a single stretch has doomed Xavier and tonight was another to add to the catalog.
If you, wherever you may have been at this point, felt like you were watching a rerun of a not particularly enjoyable TV show you likely weren’t alone in that. The players, once again, refused to accept that fate. Olivari split a pair of free throws before finding Djokovic, who played his best game of the season tonight, for a lay in to keep Marquette within 2. Olivari’s next trip to the line would end 2-2 and tie the game at 66 before he slashed through the lane to give Xavier the lead again. He responded to a David Joplin bucket by corralling his own miss and scoring again. Des Claude would be the next player to respond and give Xavier the lead, splitting a pair of free throws before Dayvion McKnight went straight at Ighodaro to finish and put Xavier on top 73-72. That would be the last time Xavier led as Kam Jones cashed out an NBA range stepback three to kick off a 10-3 spurt during which he scored 7 and assisted Stevie Mitchell’s three. Xavier battled again. They looked done a couple of times only to haul themselves off the mat and keep fighting again. It all ended up not quite being enough again. There will be a time to autopsy this season in depth later, but tonight may serve as a final portrait of a team so tantalisingly close to putting it all together, but always undone by the same familiar failings.
That being said, if they run the table at MSG, this was all just a prelude.