NEW YORK CITY − Xavier men’s basketball lives to fight another day.
With its season on the line, Xavier finally found a way to close out a tight game in its 89-87 victory over Marquette in the first round of the Big East Tournament on Wednesday, March 11.
“This is an amazing tournament,” Xavier first-year head coach Richard Pitino said. “We don’t take this experience lightly. It’s one of the most special tournaments in all of college basketball. It was a great game.”
It’s Xavier’s first win away from Cintas Center since beating Georgetown in Washington, D.C. before Christmas. Xavier is now 5-4 all-time in the Big East Tournament against Marquette and have won at least one game in the tournament in 9 of 13 seasons.
Takeaways from Xavier Musketeers Big East Tournament win over Marquette Golden Eagles
Xavier holds off Marquette in crunch time
Xavier’s season has been defined by countless close-game gut-punches. A similar feeling was in the air down the stretch in New York City Wednesday night as the Musketeers let a pair of 10-point leads slip away.
Xavier was up 86-81 with 14 seconds to go but Marquette wouldn’t go away. An and-1 from Nigel James Jr. to cut the lead to 2. Xavier fouled Marquette while up 89-86 with 1.8 seconds remaining after a missed free throw by Malik Messina-Moore.
Royce Parham made the first one and intentionally missed the second. The ball deflected off Filip Borovicanin and was chased down by James, who lofted a game-tying attempt at the buzzer from behind the basket. It was offline and Xavier had survived.
The Musketeers were 1-6 in Big East play in games decided by five points or less. That changed in the Big Apple.
Tre Carroll returns for Xavier in win over Marquette
Xavier leading scorer Tre Carroll returned from a glute sprain suffered on Senior Night against Seton Hall March 3. Carroll shook off the rust with a pair of early buckets to put Xavier up 4-0. He wouldn’t score again until the 12:10 mark in the second half, then connected in transition with 11:39 remaining to put the Musketeers up 60-50.
Carroll would score 14 of his 18 points in the second half. None bigger than his hook shot in the lane to put Xavier up 84-81 with 23 seconds remaining. Xavier shot free throws the rest of the way to close it out, including a pair of big freebies by Isaiah Walker with 8.6 seconds left.
“That bucket is the one that we’ve relied on all season, the spin in the lane, the great touch,” Pitino said. “It was certainly great to have him (Carroll) back.”
Xavier shot a blistering 63.3% in the second half against a Marquette defense that ranked 10th in the nation overall since February. Jovan Milicevic led the Musketeers with 21 points, finishing 7 of 11 from the field. Messina-Moore also had 18 and Filip Borovicanin had 10 points and 7 assists.
Xavier was just 8 of 23 from 3-point range. Four of those treys were from Milicevic.
“Great win. Proud of the guys. We’ve got three more to go,” Milicevic said.
Roddie Anderson III helped Xavier down the stretch, playing 16 minutes in the second half. He had 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. He only 3-point attempt found nylon to put Xavier up 65-57 with 9:12 remaining.
“With all the close losses, you can look at it in a negative way. We looked at it in a positive way. We can compete with anybody,” Anderson said.
Xavier’s defense ‘throws the kitchen sink’ at Marquette
Xavier’s defense has struggled all season but had stretches with consistent stops against Marquette when it mattered most. Early on, Xavier used a 3-2 zone to limit the Golden Eagles’ drives to the rim.
It worked as Marquette was content on firing from long range. The Golden Eagles finished 11 of 40 from deep and shot just 42.5% from the field.
“We did our very best to kind of throw the kitchen sink at them, especially to Nigel James,” Pitino said. “We just did not feel like if we went man-to-man versus him the whole game, we didn’t have a lot of answers.”
James, named the Big East’s Freshman of the Year on Wednesday, had 18 points but was just 6 of 17 shooting. Chase Ross had 16 points, and Marquette got a big boost underneath from Parham, who led all scorers with 22.
Xavier takes on No. 2 UConn in Big East Tournament quarterfinals
Xavier has been competitive with every team in the Big East this season with one exception. That exception awaits them in Thursday’s quarterfinals in the form of Dan Hurley’s UConn Huskies.
UConn beat Xavier, 90-67, at Cintas Center on New Year’s Eve and 92-60 in Hartford on Feb. 3.
“We’re going to do the total opposite of what we did the first two games we played them in everything we do,” Pitino said. “They’re a terrific team, but we have not played them well.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What we learned from Xavier’s Big East Tournament win over Marquette
Reporting by Shelby Dermer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
