Monday, January 24, 2000

Xavier's troubles hit home

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24-game streak smashed by La Salle

BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        It was embarrassing.

        And they all knew it.

Xavier's Lloyd Price moves in on LaSalle's Rasual Butler in the second half Sunday. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Xavier players sat on the bench in disbelief in the closing minutes of their shocking 80-49 loss to La Salle on Sunday. Heads were hanging. Eyes stared blankly into space.

        “I was just thinking, how?” freshman David West said. “How did it get to this point?”

        The Musketeers suffered their second-worst loss ever at the Cincinnati Gardens and the worst since a 36-point UC victory in March 1961. They saw their 24-game home-court winning streak — fifth-longest in the nation — end.

        They saw their dreams of an NCAA Tournament bid take a turn toward the NIT.

        They saw something they could not explain.

        “There were so many things going through my head I can't even think straight right now,” junior Maurice McAfee said.

        La Salle didn't have many answers, either.

        “If you're going to ask me what happened, I have no clue,” offered Explorers coach Speedy Morris, whose team had lost eight in a row. “You could imagine winning a game at the buzzer or something. To beat them like we did, I have no idea how we did it.”

        Xavier, held to its lowest scoring total in 16 years, had never lost to LaSalle in Cincinnati. It had beaten the Explorers 14 of 15 times.

        The Muskies had eight days between games to prepare, to stress defense, the need for emotion, execution.

        Then the game started. And in less than three minutes, it was 7-0 La Salle. Xavier would never lead.

Xavier's David West jogs down the sideline as the LaSalle bench reacts to a 3-point goal. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        “I think for one single game this certainly is the nadir of how we've played, how I've felt and I'm really at a loss to describe what we need to do to get out of it,” coach Skip Prosser said. “I'd say it's about as bad as I can remember.”

        It's not impossible to rationalize away some losses.

        The 41-point loss to Kansas in Alaska? Well, that was Kansas, a top-10 team.

        Losing an 18-point lead at Marquette. The Golden Eagles did upset two top-25 teams recently.

        The Duquesne defeat on Jan. 15? On the road, of course.

        Sunday was another matter.

        “There's no explanation for that,” sophomore Lloyd Price said. “You can't see that coming. You don't expect to lose by 30 to anybody.”

        “It can't keep going like this,” McAfee said. “You can't just let people come into your house and bring the fight to you. You're not going to let somebody break into your house and take what they want. You've got to fight them. You've got to fight collectively.”

        Xavier (11-6, 2-3 A-10) has dropped three straight games for the first time in four years and only the second time in Prosser's tenure as head coach.

        The Musketeers' NCAA hopes are fading fast, and it's not even February. On top of it, their next game is Tuesday night at Temple, where the Owls have won 16 in a row.

        How do you explain that La Salle (7-9, 1-4) was the team that played with confidence, poise and outhustled XU players to loose balls and rebounds?

        How do you explain that the Musketeers, on their home court no less, had 19 turnovers (and just seven assists) against a team that doesn't press, and the Explorers had only eight turnovers (and 19 assists) against a team that does press?

        Xavier trailed by eight at halftime despite holding Rasual Butler (19.6 ppg) and Donnie Carr (15.8) to 3-of-14 shooting.

        The Musketeers were within nine points with 18 minutes to play, then La Salle went on a 23-10 run. It led 59-37 with 9:31 remaining.

        The deficit reached 31 with 2:41 to go. Many in the sellout crowd of 10,100 headed for the exits. The starters were on the bench left to wonder.

        “I'm stunned,” Price said. “You hear every day we could be a good team. Time's up for that. We're halfway through the season; either we're a good team or we're not. We haven't been playing, that sums it up. No emotion. That's got to come from the guys. It doesn't have anything to do with the coaches, and if we play like that again, it's going to be the same outcome in the next game.

        “As a man, you've got to come ready to play.”

        XU had only one player score in double figures for the first time since March of 1996. La Salle had four (Carr 22, Victor Thomas 19, Butler 16, James Jordan 12).

        Prosser was at a loss afterward.

        Any game adjustments failed. Lineup changes, he said, are prompted by the way players perform at practice, and nobody “has laid claim to a lot more playing time.”

        “It seemed like no matter what we tried, it wasn't going to happen,” Prosser said. “No matter who we tried, it wasn't going to happen.

        “Now we're struggling. There's no quick fix. We've just got to try to have a good practice (today). There's nothing else we can do.”

       

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