By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Not one of the Xavier coaches or players would admit to being glad to stay home for Thanksgiving instead of playing in the Preseason NIT semifinals in New York.

But by losing to Stanford one week ago, Xavier gave itself nine days of practice mixed with rest. And it's rest the players will need before games start again Dec.3 when Purdue (1-0) comes to Cintas Center.

Following that game is the Crosstown Shootout Dec.7 at Cincinnati; a home game against Miami University Dec.9; and a trip to Madison Square Garden in New York to play No.23 Mississippi State Dec.14.

It's four games in 11 days.

"They're very important," center Will Caudle said. "If we do great now, that means we really don't have that much further to go."

Purdue defeated Miami 73-46 on Nov.22 in West Lafayette, Ind. Miami lost by 15 to No.11 Maryland two days later.

But the RedHawks (0-2) are no walkover, with four starters back from last season.

Undoubtedly, the Crosstown Shootout will stand out as the most important game of the four, but Xavier will have to refocus for MU with just a day of rest after the UC game.

"It's very big for us," Romain Sato said. "All those games are not easy games, especially Cincinnati."

Winning more than half of the four games could provide a big boost to Xavier's strength of schedule. The Musketeers missed an opportunity to play No.7 Florida and No.2 Kansas by losing to Stanford.

That's why coaches have put such an emphasis on practice, which resumes Friday after a two-day holiday vacation. After coach Thad Matta altered the starting lineup against Florida A&M by inserting Dedrick Finn and Caudle for Dave Young and Anthony Myles, he showed how serious he was about practice by saying those changes weren't final depending on this week's workouts.

"We're not playing a game for nine days, so it's very important for us to make sure we get better in practice and improve on defense and offensive execution," Matta said. "It's a tough stretch coming up, and all four teams pose a unique challenge."

Mississippi State is the mystery team of the four, simply because the Bulldogs' starting center, Mario Austin, is being held out of games while the NCAA investigates his freshman eligibility. Austin is a junior, but the NCAA found it might have erroneously cleared him to play as a freshman.

Without Austin, State lost its opening game to Louisiana-Lafayette 79-76 at home in Starkville.

With so much practice and no games until Tuesday, Xavier players might begin to feel as though they're back in the preseason.

West said they have plenty to remind them of what needs to be done.

"We just want to stay fresh and work on some of the things we've shown as weaknesses in the first three games," he said. "You get a chance to be better and stay fresh. Right now, we're trying to iron out some things."