Xavier is looking to recover from a tough road loss in Big East play when they host No. 19 UConn on Saturday night in Cincinnati.
The Musketeers (12-8, 4-5 Big East) had a 16-point lead with 17:03 left during their game on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden in New York. They had a chance to finish off No. 20 St. John’s, but the Red Storm made a strong comeback, and Xavier lost 79-71 in overtime.
Xavier went through a rough stretch, being outscored 29-10 over nearly 14 minutes, and their lead shrank to a 63-60 deficit with 3:30 remaining. The Musketeers also struggled in the paint, losing 48-24, and shot only 35.7% in the second half.
“It’s called game pressure. It’s time, score, crowd. There’s a lot at stake. Possessions are sacred,” said Xavier coach Sean Miller. “As a coach, you want a team that’s about the same in that moment as you are early in the first half. You get to a point where there’s three minutes left.”
Xavier managed to fight back, with Ryan Conwell scoring 21 points and Dailyn Swain adding 16, but in overtime, they were outscored 8-0 in the first three minutes.
“We have to be more of the same team as we were in the previous 37 minutes,” Miller added. “You smell that popcorn, the crowd is getting loud, guys can’t catch, all of a sudden you can’t remember and it’s a bad feeling. We have some of that.”
Swain suffered a right leg injury with three minutes left in regulation and had to be helped off the court.
“We’ll take care of his safety,” Miller said. “I don’t know how much time he’ll miss.”
Xavier Faces UConn Again After Tough Loss
Saturday will be a rematch of another tough Big East loss for Xavier, this time an overtime defeat to UConn. On Dec. 18 in Hartford, Conn., the Huskies came back from a five-point deficit late in the second half and outscored the Musketeers 16-11 in overtime to win 94-89.
UConn (14-5, 6-2) had its own tough battle in its last game, winning 80-78 in overtime at home against Butler on Tuesday. The game was intense, with both teams combining for only two points in the last two minutes of regulation. Huskies coach Dan Hurley expressed frustration with the referees, who called 21 fouls on UConn while Butler was called for just 13.
“I’ve created this for myself, I’m not the victim. I just wish they just would not have the camera on me 90 percent of the time,” Hurley said.
“If it’s because they don’t like me, that’s a problem, because that’s an integrity of the game issue. You can’t come into a game saying, ‘I’m not going to call fouls because I don’t like this coach’s demeanor.’”
