By Addison Burke, Sports Editor

The University of Connecticut Huskies came to the Cintas Center on Saturday hoping to win the series against the Musketeers. With a sold out crowd bolstering the Musketeers, the Xavier men’s basketball team got the win 76-72 after a hard fought battle.

“Our crowd has always been a fixture. No visiting team likes to come to Cincinnati to play us, and we can just never lose that. I don’t think we would have won tonight if we didn’t have the crowd that we did behind us,” head coach Sean Miller said.

Coming off of an overtime loss against St. John’s last Wednesday, the Musketeers looked to bounce back against a strong No. 19 UConn. Graduate forward Zach Freemantle and sophomore guard Dailyn Swain led the Musketeers with 15 points each, with graduate guard Dante Maddox Jr. following close behind with 14 points.

Maddox earned his playing time on Saturday, going 3-4 from three and 5-6 from the field. It is key that Maddox is able to stay consistent moving forward as he has been a standout shooter from three.

Leading the team with an average of 16.5 points per game, Freemantle held a defensive masterclass with five rebounds, two blocks and a steal against the Huskies. Graduate guard Marcus Foster also showed up on defense with seven rebounds despite only scoring five points throughout the game.

During the game against St. John’s last week, Swain had a career-high 16 points but suffered an ankle injury towards the end of the game. Swain had not practiced with the team for two days between games, and it would not have been a surprise if he had sat out against UConn. However, the Swain train came hurtling through Cintas and played for 31 minutes, going 6-7 to end the game with 15 points.

“He is playing the best basketball of his career. But what he did tonight by just playing, he could have easily sat out. Everybody on our team would have understood. But he fought through it the last 48 hours. He really wanted to play in the game,” Miller said.

During the Musketeers three-game stretch against AP Top 25 teams, Swain went 63% from the field and 100% from the free throw line. He averaged 14.3 points for these three games.

Tonight, the Musketeers face off against the Creighton University Bluejays in Omaha, Neb. While not a Top 25 team, Creighton is on a five-game win streak, winning in a dominant fashion with three of their games being won by 20 points or more.

To come out on top, the Musketeers must stay strong in the latter minutes of the second half. Xavier allowed a 29-10 run after having a 16 point lead to St. John’s, resulting in an overtime loss. This strength needs to come predominantly on defense, especially when facing off against Creighton’s 7’1” senior center Ryan Kalkbrenner. If the Musketeers can remain strong on defense while on the road, it will bode well for remaining road games and postseason potential.

Miller also has to utilize the bench players like he did against UConn, which resulted in 26 bench points. While the Musketeers have a small rotation due to injuries within the team, the bench players have to continue to step up and stay consistent to support the starters.

With 10 games remaining this season before the Big East tournament, the Musketeers currently stand at fifth in the conference with a 5-5 record and a 13-8 record overall. To secure a bid to March Madness, these remaining games will need to be played at the highest level possible, especially with many of their big conference games behind them.