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Slumping Muskies Dealt a Crushing Blow at Home
1/25/2012
 | | Mark Lyons wraps around a SLU defender to score a basket.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Mark Lyons hits a three point shot on his way to a career high 27 points.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Mark Lyons wraps around a SLU defender to score a basket.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Jeff Robinson shouts his approval after getting free for a power dunk.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Jeff Robinson scores two of his 10 points with a slam in the second half.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Tu Holloway lays in two of his 22 points.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |
In the blink of an eye, and in one bad half, Xavier saw its 43 game home court winning streak against the A10, and maybe its vice-like grip on the conference come to a skidding halt.
"I mean, if you've guys have got any answers," Tu Holloway said, "We're all looking for answers right now. We know Coach Mack, he can get it for us."
It was a frustrating loss in what has become an increasing frustrating and disappointing season. St. Louis marched into Cintas and ended 6 years of dominance by Xavier at home, 73-68. Now, the Muskies (13-7, 4-3) are left to pick up the pieces before it's too late. And St. Louis (16-4, 4-2) has positioned itself to claim an A10 crown.
The Musketeers allowed the athletic Billikens to dominate the first half, where they shot 51.7% from the field and 7 of 14 from three. And when Xavier plugged one hole in the second half, a leak sprung from another. Clamping down on the long ball, St. Louis answered with senior forward Brian Conklin, who had 13 of his 19 points in the second half. He spent much of the time powering through and around Andre Walker all night.
Mark Lyons (a career-high 27 points) and Tu Holloway (24, mainly on 14 of 14 free throws) did their best to resuscitate a team that looked dead. It wasn't enough. They were the key to a second half run that knotted the score at 50. The rest of the offense was non-existent, though.
Jeff Robinson, who has another strong night with 10 points, and Dee Davis started in place for Kenny Frease and Mark Lyons, as Coach Chris Mack attempted to shake things up and get the team going. Lyons, who dominated for stretches and made 5 of 6 threes, clearly looked like he could take over the game. Frease ended up playing limited minutes and only had 4 points for the game, in what was another disappointing game in a disappointing senior season.
"After we lost to Dayton, we wanted the guys out there that were really going after it in practice," Coach Mack said. "I thought we lacked a little bit of toughness, a lot of toughness, at Dayton. And we can't lack that, not in this conference, against some of the teams we play."
The offense actually was far more efficient without Frease in the game. Mack's offense requires the big guy to set a lot screens and picks up at the top of the key. Kenny Frease, and his lack of mobility, lacks the ability to consistently do that. With Robinson, Travis Taylor, and Justin Martin playing increased minutes, the offense was more flexible at times, with the ability to spread the floor. And Xavier made its run with Frease on the bench.
Intentionally or not, spreading the floor allowed Lyons and Holloway to pick apart the defense by driving the lane. At the same time, it stagnates the offense a bit. It didn't work in the first half, but it was effective in the second half, when players were moving and cutting more.
But at times, Xavier lacked the sense of urgency that they once played with. They weren't always hustling back, or rotating on defense. The offense lacked serious movement and sharp cuts. Some of that was fixed in the second half, but Xavier failed to play a full game. And it cost them another game, again.
"I thought our guys showed some resolve, coming back," Mack said. "But we weren't efficient enough at executing the defense we need to execute, down the stretch, to beat a good team like St. Louis."
At this point in the season, it's no longer about saying, "We are going to be fine," or, "We are going to get back to where we were." There isn't time for that left. Mack and Xavier have to assume this team won't simply just flip a switch and be dominant again. They have to earn that.
Until then, let the criticism and flak fly. Xavier will hear a lot of it.
"No one's going to feel sorry for us," said Mack. "In fact, just the opposite. We have to stick together in the locker room, and there's not going to be a lot of nice things said about us. Which has been said in the past. We have to have a belief in one another, which we do. We just have to become a better basketball team."
Xavier will get that chance to be a better basketball team at Charlotte (10-9, 2-4), the site of their only A10 loss last year, at 7 PM Saturday night.
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