Much like Michael Bluth when he saw a dead dove inside a bag labeled “Dead Dove, Do Not Eat,” I found myself saying, “I don’t know what I expected,” after Xavier dropped another close one tonight. At least
Michael didn’t get the chance to see what that dove could have been. He didn’t get to see it so full of life and going toe-to-toe with a top 25 opponent before it meant its untimely, but inevitable, demise.
Earlier this year, I said I was done being enthusiastic since I kept setting myself up to get hurt over and over again. I guess I’m not a man of my word because when Tre Carroll (21/8/4) put us up 2-0, I was convinced it was our night. The entire first half kept this same pace, as both offenses were clicking and neither side could pull ahead by more than five points. A notable difference from the last time these teams played was a clear effort from X to play off the bounce more. St. John’s had stifled X in the second half of the first matchup by denying passes to shooters and pressuring ball handlers. While this isn’t the usual style of offense X runs, it still worked out for the most part early. Filip Borovicanin (12/10/1) wasn’t tallying assists at his usual rate, but he consistently found his way into the paint and forced St. John’s to collapse just a little bit. The noted lack of ball movement was causing X some issues when the game slowed to a half-court pace, but this rarely ever happened, it seemed, and the problem was solved by sprinting out in transition and spreading the floor quickly.
Despite neither team creating much separation, it appeared St. John’s had seized the momentum after they went up 4 with 4 to play. Jovan Milicevic (13/4/1) then scored from inside the arc to remind everyone that he could, and then did it again on the next possession for kicks and giggles. Perhaps the best sequence came near the end of the half when Anthony Robinson (10/4/1) gave X the lead by dunking on Zuby Ejiofor. St.John’s hit back immediately, though, and looked as though they would take a three-point lead into the half. That was until A-Rob found Isaiah Walker (7/3/2) on the wing to tie it at the buzzer.
The start of the second half kept on the same pace that the first had established, where both teams just kept trading blows. About 10 minutes into the half, though, Malik Messina-Moore (11/4/1) found Robinson on a slip to the rim, and he thundered X in front by 5. This wasn’t some massive cushion, obviously, but it came off the back of consecutive stops and buckets from X and could have really swung the momentum had it been capitalized on. Unfortunately, in a game so tight, three straight empty possessions meant this small five-point cushion evaporated. St. John’s countered with their patented athleticism and interior dominance. Those two factors plus roughly 1,000 free throws meant they soon regained the lead, but of course, this version of Xavier did not fold.
With just under five minutes left, Tre Carroll cut the deficit to one, and the score sat at 74-73. The next point was from MMM with 1:46 left on the clock as he split his free throws. Tre then found Robinson in the dunker’s spot, where he, get this, dunked it and tied the game. Another stop meant X could go 2-for-1, and they did as Carroll spun toward the baseline and banked one in for the lead. St.John’s came down the other end and missed their first, second, and third looks to tie the game. In one of those fights for a rebound that ends up with a bunch of dudes just kind of bouncing and flailing, it was St. John’s who flailed just right and got the tying bucket. X still had time to do something, but Tre picked a really bad time to get sloppy with his handle, and he ended up just throwing the ball off the backboard in desperation.
Overtime felt like the inevitable time where X would fight valiantly, but ultimately fall short, and it was exactly that. The effort, the hustle, the fight through adversity (refs), it was all there, but the execution wasn’t. Three turnovers, four points, five minutes, lost by five.
We may have gotten slightly hosed.
Allow me to preface this by acknowledging that I am a Xavier fan and this is a blog about Xavier basketball. My goodness, our boys could not buy a call out there. Zuby Ejiofor might actually need to commit a felony assault to get called for a foul in the paint. As X made their late push in this one, Messina-Moore had Ejiofor absolutely lost in the sauce and went to finish off his move at the rim. His momentum was quickly and aggressively halted by Ejiofor himself, and the game carried on as if nothing happened. I hate pointing to free-throw disparity generally, but in this one, St. John’s shot 41 FTs to Xavier’s 17. This wasn’t because X was bombing from deep either, as they only attempted four more threes than St. John’s. I could go on, but you get the point, and I don’t wanna get myself all worked up again. Even Jovan fouled out, and that never happens.
We also hosed ourselves.
So yes, X shot way fewer free throws than St. John’s, but they also shot 9-17 and then 5-17 from three. Even with all of these factors going against X, they still had the lead with less than a minute to go, but just couldn’t close. St. John’s crashes the glass as part of their identity, so that last tip-in isn’t necessarily unexpected. Tre Carroll trying to iso so hard that he lost the handle was a bit unexpected, but I honestly don’t like the ball in his hand there to begin with. Regardless of how that last possession should have gone on either side of the ball, X had the lead with 46 seconds left, then had the ball in a tie game with 16 seconds left and couldn’t get it across the line.
