By Ben Dickison, Back Page Editor

After a dismal 1-5 streak, Xavier men’s basketball is  in a similar situation to an actor who is nailing all of their lines in practice (or games against weaker opponents), but when the auditorium is full and the critics are watching the premiere in the front row (games against projected NCAA tournament teams), the Musketeers forget the script and miss the biggest line of the play.  

Head coach Sean Miller said that the team’s New Year’s Eve win over the Seton Hall Pirates, sandwiched between losses to the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies, Marquette University Golden Eagles and Georgetown University Hoyas,  contained a lot of good but also many learning opportunities. Perhaps the most pleasing statistic for Miller was the lack of turnovers committed by the Musketeers. The Pirates rank in the top 18 percent of all Division I teams in turnovers forced per game – Shaheen Holloway’s team typically forces 14.1 turnovers per game. The Musketeers coughed up the rock only twice in the first half and only ten times over the course of the game on their way to a 94-72 win. 

In previous matchups, the Musketeers have turned the ball over 14 times at Cincinnati, 10 times at UConn, 14 times against Marquette and 11 times at Georgetown. This equates to an average of 11.8 turnovers per game over their last five games. 

The Musketeers rank 124th in the country in turnovers on the season and have actually turned the ball over less frequently in their last three games than they had been up until that point. According to Miller, the amount of turnovers the Musketeers commit per game is not the problem; rather it is the distribution of the Xavier’s turnovers over the course of a forty minute game.

“Something that has certainly plagued our team is that we can play long, long stretches of being a team that is really great at taking care of the ball,” Miller said. “Then, that same group can come unraveled in a two-to-three minute period of time and give the ball up two, three, four times.”

The Musketeers have looked dominant against teams they are expected to defeat, but haven’t beaten a projected tournament team according to ESPN Bracketolgist Joe Lunardi. In order to make it into the field on Selection Sunday, the Musketeers must record a signature win against tonight’s opponent St. John’s, along with wins against either No. 7 Marquette, who they face in Milwaukee on Jan. 18 or No. 9 UConn, who visits Cintas Center on Jan. 25. The Musketeers will then need to play the rest of the Big East schedule with no more than four losses to secure a March Madness bid before reaching the biggest stage in the sport:  Madison Square Garden in New York City. If the Musketeers do not follow the above script, they will be forced to go without a setback in the Garden and win the Big East Tournament to reach March Madness.

The slate of opportunity begins tonight as the Musketeers host the Red Storm at 6:30 p.m. Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino brings his team to Cintas Center with wins over Virginia, Kansas State, DePaul and Providence and having taken preseason top-five team Baylor to double overtime in a one-point loss. 

The Red Storm are led by Seton Hall transfer guard Kadary Richmond (10.8 points per game), junior guard RJ Luis, Jr. (16.2 points per game), former Kansas forward Zuby Ejifor (14.1 points per game) and senior Utah transfer Deivon Smith (11 points per game). Of note, the Red Storm force the 10th most turnovers of any team in the country, grabbing 16.4 per game. Let’s see if the Musketeers can use the Red Storm as a red carpet and nail their line under the bright lights of Cintas Center.