Box Score | Xavier Quotes | Creighton Quotes
By SEAN BRENNAN
BIGEAST.com
It has been quite the bounce back season for Xavier this year.
The Musketeers came into this season with a new coach and a new mantra. For four years Xavier, which has always been a regular participant in March’s hoops hoopla, had been uncharacteristically silent on the big stage of late. Their last three BIG EAST Tournament appearances saw the Musketeers make first-round exits each time. Forget about any NCAA Tournament invites. There were none. That couldn’t go on.
So Sean Miller was brought back to resurrect a program that wasn’t quite in the abyss by any stretch, but was definitely in need of a tune up. MIller did just that, leading the Musketeers to a 15-win conference season, a No. 2 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament and a No. 15 ranking in the latest AP Top 25 poll.
A fifth straight NCAA miss is now off the table. So is that first-round exit in the BIG EAST Tournament. The only question for the Musketeers is what will be their seed, where are they going and who will they be playing?
But before they get to all that Selection Sunday stuff, there was still a most important task at hand - advancing to the BIG EAST Tournament championship game for only the second time since joining the conference in the 2013-14 season. Their only other visit to the final came in 2015 when they lost the title to Villanova. A trip back to the basketball equivalent of Shangri La in Miller’s first season would only add to Xavier’s superb turnaround season.
But Creighton had similar dreams. The Bluejays have kind of made it a habit to get to the conference tournament title tilt, having done so four times since they joined the league the same year as Xavier. Two of those four losses came the last two seasons. So, the Bluejays came into the tournament this year with a mantra of “Unfinished business.”
So, Creighton was hoping for another shot at the title and to finally check that championship box off its list. And besides, it was Ryan Nembhard’s 20th birthday on Friday, so a return to the title game would seem like a fine present for the sophomore point guard.
Unfortunately for Creighton it will have to find a different gift for Nembhard thanks to those party-crashing Musketeers.
Xavier jumped out to a 14-point lead at intermission and never let up in the second half as they held leads that ballooned as high as 22 points in the second half as the Musketeers are headed back to the conference championship game for the first time in eight seasons after their 82-60 victory over Creighton.
The No. 2 seeded Musketeers (25-8) will now face top-seeded Marquette for BIG EAST bragging rights Saturday night. Each team will be looking to win their first ever conference championship.
It was just too much Souley Boum, too much Jack Nunge, too much Colby Jones for the Bluejays to handle as the Musketeers’ trio combined for 54 points. Xavier looked every bit the team that ranks 10th in the nation in scoring at 82.1 points a game. Despite strong outings from Ryan Kalkbrenner (18 points), Baylor Scheierman (15) and Trey Alexander (12), the Bluejays could never get any closer than 13 points in the second half as Xavier’s defensive effort kept Creighton at bay.
“In March you need players to give everything for the cause,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “We really were locked in, both on defense and offense. Certainly, one of our, probably our best performances of the season.”
And just one of those nights for a Creighton team that was so impressive in its quarterfinal-round win over Villanova.
“Really from the jump, they had us out of rhythm offensively and forced us into some uncharacteristic turnovers,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. “And then we really got beat up on the offensive glass. We’ve been one of the better teams in the country from a defensive rebounding percentage on the season and we weren’t tonight. All the credit goes to Xavier. They played really well on both ends of the floor.”
Creighton is a team that is very capable, along with Xavier, of making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. So how were the Musketeers able to pull off the one-sided victory?
“We got some warriors in our locker room,” Nunge said.
And now those warriors will turn their attention to Marquette with a championship on the line. So what kind of problems do the Golden Eagles present for Xavier?
“Many, many problems,” Miller said. “They’re an outstanding team. All the awards they won this year, they certainly deserve it. Their offense, their ability to score at the rim, they’re incredibly hard to defend and we’ll have to have the same defensive mindset (Saturday).”
The turnaround season continues on for Miller and his Musketeers, a BIG EAST Tournament title there for the taking. So how does it feel to be one step away from etching Xavier’s name in the BIG EAST books in his first season back at Xavier?
“It’s incredibly special,” Miller said. “It’s special to be here at this podium talking to you guys as a member of the BIG EAST and competing in Madison Square Garden. Like I told these guys at the end of the game, you really understand here once you get here, the pageantry and why everybody makes such a big deal about the BIG EAST Tournament.”