(Photo Courtesy of WLWT.com)
January 13th, 2019. Down by 12 with 3:54 remaining in the game, the Xavier Musketeers storm back at the Cintas Center to defeat the Butler Bulldogs 70-69. Since then, the Musketeers have not won a single game.
Six straight losses by an average margin of 9.7 points a game. Xavier has had opportunities to win a lot of these games and tonight was no different for the Musketeers. Xavier lead this game 57-53 before DePaul went on a 19-4 run to take the lead and run away with the game. They were assisted by the Musketeers having 6 costly turnovers down the stretch to help the Blue Demons to victory. Xavier's defense was really solid most of this game. They made big stops, they didn't give up a lot of easy baskets and even held DePaul's star player Max Strus to just 6/20 shooting and only one for nine from three.
On the offensive side, Xavier got a great offensive day from Naji Marshall. Naji had 22 points shooting 7 of 15 from the field and kept the Musketeers in the game most of the night. Paul Scruggs also contributed 13 points for the team shooting 5 of 11 for the game. But the Offense sputtered otherwise, especially only getting two points from the bench. Xavier had 16 total turnovers in the game and also shot 5 for 18 from three. This is a recipe for disaster. Espeially in the Big East Conference. Xavier now sits at 11-13 overall with a 3-8 record in Big East play.
The game was ugly from the beginning though. Both offenses took a little while to get going. At the 11:48 mark in the first half the score was 5-5 and the teams shot a combined 4/27 from the floor. Eventually both teams had some strides on offense but too many long scoring droughts got the Musketeers yet again.
Up next for Xavier is a rematch vs. the Creighton Bluejays this Wednesday night at the Cintas Center. These two teams played last Sunday with Creighton winning by a score of 76-54. Tip-off will be at 8:30PM EST on the CBS Sports Network.
Tim Daniel is the Director of College Basketball Content here at the 48 Minutes Network. He is also the host of the 48 Minutes Podcast and At Large Bid. If you want to discuss Hoops with Tim make sure you give him a follow!
