By Ben Dickison, Sports Editor

On Monday night, the Xavier Musketeers men’s basketball team fell seven points short of the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens, marking their third straight home defeat.

After leading by two points at the first media timeout, Xavier dominated the next “four minute war,” as the coaching staff calls them, behind distance hits from Desmond Claude and Trey Green. Those two makes were accented by an acrobatic floater and defense ball pressure  from Quincy Olivari. 

About midway through the first period of play, Sean Miller could be heard from the mezzanine imploring his team to “Move the ball!” 

The Musketeers answered by looking for big men Saša Ciani a true freshman and Abou Ousmane, a senior transfer from North Texas, both in their first years as Musketeers, on separate rolls to the basket. In both instances, the ball was picked up by a photographer sitting adjunct to the stanchions on the Cintas Center baskets.

This erosion of Xavier’s offensive momentum was exacerbated by a barrage of makes from Delaware stars Cavan Reilly and Jyare Davis.

With two minutes remaining before the break, Claude nailed a three-point shot while bracing through a bump from Delaware’s Wes Peterson to extend the Xavier lead to five points. Just before the buzzer sounded to send the teams to the locker room, senior forward Gytis Nemeikša rejected Christian Ray’s jumper into Walnut Hills, giving Xavier a 43-41 advantage at the break behind 15 points from Olivari.

Three and a half minutes into the second half, Sean Miller called timeout with his team trailing 45-50. Olivari immediately converted a lefty lay-in after play resumed. He drained a three to tighten the score to 52-53. On the next possession of the game, Reilly played string music himself to return the margin to 4 points in favor of the Blue Hens. However, Xavier’s now-leading scorer in back-to-back games immediately cashed in from distance again to bring Xavier within one point again.

At the under-eight media timeout, despite the Hen’s lead sprawling up to 10 points, Cintas exploded into jubilant cheers when sophomore Alan Arakpu made a halfcourt shot, earning him a $500 Visa gift card. 

Claude returned from the break showing some signs of life, as he finished with 14 points.

In crunch time, both teams continued to cash in from the floor, connecting on over half of their respective field goal attempts. Forward Jalun Trent torched the Musketeers for 19 points in the second half, finding his way to the cup with ease. His back-to-back layups paired with a Reilly fadeaway three gave the Fightin’ Blue Hens a 74-64 lead that they never relinquished. The Blue Hens finished with 47 second-half points and took home their program’s first victory over a Big East opponent.

Xavier’s “leaderless team,” as Quincy Olivari called them, was guilty once again of committing a plethora of what Miller denotes “headscratching turnovers.” The home team committed 17 turnovers, while only turning their opponents over 8 times. 

In the postgame press conference, Olivari said that Miller had accused his team of quitting on the game. The same Xavier battalion that trailed #3 Houston by only six points at the final buzzer must rebound at a higher rate, stop getting blown by on closeouts and take care of the rock in order to actualize their performance, he said.

“Our team is at a moment of truth right now,” Miller said as he looked forward to tomorrow’s Crosstown Shootout matchup with the Cincinnati Bearcats.

In his third season with the keys to the program at UC, Coach Wes Miller’s team finds themselves undefeated through seven games, receiving votes in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Poll. The Bearcats have yet to play a ranked opponent, but do boast a 35 point victory over Georgia Tech, who last week defeated #21 Mississippi State and #7 Duke.  

            The strength and height of the Bearcats is found in front court forces Aziz Bandaongo and Vihktor Lahkin. Lahkin is a burly 6’11”, 240 pound center who averages 15 points and eight rebounds an outing and is playing in his redshirt junior season in Cincinnati. Bandango was the talk of the summer at UC as he pledged to play in a Bearcats uniform after a two-year stint in Orem for Utah Valley University. The center, who is averaging 10 points and a block per contest, won his battle with the NCAA to gain eligibility just in time for the matchup with Georgia Tech.

The Bearcats backcourt is anchored by  former junior college standout Day-Day Thomas, who chose the Bearcats over West Virginia, Kansas State, Texas A&M and Memphis, among others, is a speedy facilitator who leads his squad in assists.

Thomas is joined by Kentucky transfer CJ Frederick in the starting backcourt. Frederick started his career at Iowa, where he established himself as one of the nation’s premier three-point shooters. The Covington, Ky. native is currently fourth in the nation in offensive rating.

Sophomore guard Dan Skillings, Jr. and first-year man Jizzle James have both contributed energy and scoring off the bench, averaging 11.9 and 9 points, respectively.

Versatile forwards John Newman III and Simas Lukošius –  a familiar opponent of the Musketeers from his time as a Butler Bulldog – split minutes on the wing. 

Wes Miller’s team is the first in program history to put up 85 points in six straight games since the 1959-60 season and have risen to 14th in the NCAA’s NET rankings, a metric that ranks teams based on scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency and strength of schedule.

In his media availability on Wednesday, Cincinnati’s head man called this year’s Shootout “a tune up” as his team prepares to begin conference play as members of the Big XII for the first time ever. 

Despite having accumulated two defeats in the Crosstown Shootout in his time at Cincinnati, Miller assured his team is “going to Cintas to take care of business.”

The Musketeers will arrive at a moment of truth on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. as they seek to dismantle the Bearcats for the fifth consecutive season.