By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEW YORK - Leaning his 6-foot-9 body against a wall outside the Xavier locker room Saturday at Madison Square Garden, David West explained the Musketeers' loss to Mississippi State in four words.

"We didn't play hard."

After a 71-61 loss to the 24th-ranked Bulldogs in which Xavier was thoroughly outplayed, it fell to team leader West to answer the question, "What happened?"

"One of the coaches told me before the game, sometimes you get an energy about the team in the locker room, and he said he didn't want to say anything, but our energy wasn't there," West said. "We came out flat and didn't play hard."

West doesn't know why 13th-ranked Xavier was stymied by MSU's man-to-man defense, scoring only 15 points in the first half.

He doesn't know why the Musketeers looked lethargic compared to the Bulldogs' Mario Austin, who dunked, shot and drove all over them in his season debut.

All West knows for sure is that Xavier is a repeat offender of playing lazy. He said the Musketeers coasted through a 68-58 win against Miami last Monday.

"Guys are confident ... maybe guys are a little too confident," he said.

West hasn't looked the same since Xavier (5-2) beat crosstown rival Cincinnati on Dec. 7 at Shoemaker Center. In the Musketeers' 50-44 win, the forward controlled the paint and played as if he had something to prove.

Saturday, it was Austin who showed the most skill to the several NBA scouts at MSG. He demanded the ball, while West got touches some possessions, and was ignored on others.

That's a pattern Xavier coach Thad Matta was concerned about even before Saturday's game.

"David needs to get more involved in every possession and make sure he doesn't disappear and gets active at both ends of the court," Matta said last week.

West was active on the boards against MSU, grabbing a game-high 17 rebounds, but he wasn't much of a presence in the low post.

Three of West's four baskets came off offensive rebounds. The other was a 3-pointer.

"I guess I just didn't play hard," said West, who is a preseason All-American and player of the year candidate.

It's not that West doesn't care. He was visibly upset at times Saturday, but it was freshman Dedrick Finn who challenged his teammates during a timeout midway through the first half.

"I'm the point guard and my teammates rely on me," said Finn, who scored 12 points on four 3s. "It's my job to pick them up."

Finn and West lamented that Xavier failed its first two biggest road tests of the season, at Stanford and against MSU. Both losses hurt Xavier nationally, and the Musketeers are still seeking answers in big-game situations.

"To tell you the truth, I don't even think we know yet," Finn said. "Our work ethic. We just don't work hard in the big games. It was a little like Stanford, except I think it was worse because everybody was flat. Everybody wasn't there, mentally or physically."

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com