By Ben Dickison, Sports Editor
On Wednesday night, the Xavier Musketeers were given a penance of crushing defeat to the Providence College Friars. After Providence forward Ticket Gaines marauded over from the left block to reject Xavier guard Desmond Claude’s attempt at the rim, the visiting side took a 79-75 victory.
The devil is in the details in hard-fought Big East matchups, and the Friars proved more apt to exorcise mistakes down the stretch.
“If you go 14 for 23 (on free throws) in a home game, we don’t have that room for error,” reflected Head Coach Sean Miller after the game.
The Musketeers shot 42.9% from the field, only 0.6% less than the Friars. However, the visitors shot an impressive 16 for 20 from the stripe as compared to the aforementioned total by the Musketeers.
Claude was a bright spot among the struggle, converting on seven of eight free throws on his way to pouring in 22 points.
“Des is our best free-throw shooter. You hope for a string drive, you hope for a foul. I think it was a no-brainer to go to him at the end of the game,” said Miller of Claude’s last-gasp effort to tie the game.
Fellow Xavier backcourt stars Quincy Olivari and Dayvion McKnight poured in 16 and 19 points respectively.
In contrast to the consistent production from Xavier’s starting guards, the volatile experience known as Xavier’s frontcourt lived up to its reputation in Wednesday’s game. 6’9” Slovenian forward Sasa Ciani started his first game in silver and navy, but would go on to record three fouls, no points and one assist in 11 minutes.
The lack of production from Ciani was remedied by the 13 points and 13 rebounds from senior center Abou Ousmane, who came off the bench for the first time this season against a Big East foe.
“I think watching the game, getting a feel for it as a couple minutes come off the clock helps stay out of foul trouble,” said Ousmane, who leads the Musketeers in rebounding this season. Ousmane recorded only two fouls in 27 minutes.
“It’s evident to me that we’re wearing down. We don’t play a deep bench. We have a lot of young guys in the rotation right now,” said Miller.
Forward Dailyn Swain and point guard Trey Green, both playing their first season of collegiate basketball, were scoreless.
After an eight-point performance accompanied by two rebounds in 20 minutes, freshman center Kachi Nzeh was expected to clock significant minutes against the Friars. He instead only recorded only a minute and 37 seconds of burn. Miller credited the “outstanding” play of Abou Ousmane and allocated minutes for Ciani as a starter as reasons for Nzeh’s sedentary state on the bench.
Miller said Big East battles like this come down to individual moments. One turning point in the head man’s mind was the technical foul he received with five minutes remaining in the first half.
“One of the things I’ve learned is that there is a tier system in this league, and I know exactly where I am. I get it. But when I get a technical foul for saying ‘that’s five fouls in a row,’ that’s a problem…I’ll take my rightful place on one knee, but what I’m not gonna do is sit and watch that other coach do anything different than sit on his one knee. We didn’t lose because of a technical foul. I thought the officiating was fine,” Miller said. “But I just want to make sure that as that tier system is in place, the top tier guy can’t do one thing and then I’m sitting on my little left knee and get that technical foul…I’m tired of that bullsh*t.”
The Musketeers now find themselves at 7-8 in conference play, with the first of two tests against Associated Press’ seventh-ranked team, the Marquette Golden Eagles approaching this Sunday. Tip-off at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee is set for 5 p.m.
