CINCINNATI — Xavier coach Chris Mack isn't ready to
shout it from the nearby mountaintops, but his team is still here.
Xavier is still not on your computer, fancy phone screen or newspaper ranked in
the Top 25, but that's OK. It's an absence that's well earned, frankly, but one
that's just wrong.
And one that's not going to last much longer.
A more reserved, more professional and very focused Xavier team won its fourth consecutive
game in runaway fashion Wednesday night, holding a short-handed Saint Joseph's
team to 16 second-half points in a 68-55 victory. Stiffer competition is
coming, and Xavier will have to prove itself all over again when it does. But
this team is passing the eye test and, perhaps more importantly, has a bunch of
talented players who can look one another in the eye again.
Senior point guard Tu Holloway makes the Musketeers go, and Xavier has lots of
guys who can go. Now, maybe at the right time, Xavier is playing like the
hunter rather than the hunted and scorned again. Holloway's 12 assists
Wednesday night and Dez Wells' variety of acrobatic finishes served as the best
example of what Xavier was five weeks ago and what it could be five weeks from
now.
"I don't talk about (rankings), no," Mack said. "I did hear one
of our players before the game reminding some guys we don't have a number in
front of our name.
"There's a lot of pride in that locker room, some hungry cats. We just
have to continue to win and we'll get all that stuff later."
Mack referencing the "hungry cats" is an upgrade from Holloway's now
infamous "gangsters" comment back on Dec. 10 in the aftermath of a
fight that ended the Musketeers' game with crosstown rival Cincinnati early and
sent a promising season into a tailspin.
Xavier was ranked No. 8 at the time of the fight, one spot short of the school
record for highest ranking. But the Musketeers went 1-5 between the fight and
the start of this four-game streak at Fordham on Jan. 7. Holloway was suspended
a game, Mark Lyons for two and Wells for four, but even back at full strength
something — or lots of things — was missing.
The Musketeers went from one of America's hottest teams to probably its most
puzzling, with clips from the fight and its aftermath played on repeat and
Xavier's early-season successes all but forgotten. Now, Xavier is 13-5 and
playing like the team that won at Vanderbilt, came from way back to beat Purdue
and dominated Butler and Cincinnati on its way to 8-0. It's a team that has two
players likely to be drafted in June in Holloway and 7-footer Kenny Frease,
another that's certainly going to be drafted sometime — Mack hopes not
immediately — in the freshman Wells, plus lots of complementary pieces.
"At the beginning of the season we had the players and had the hype around
us," Frease said. "A lot of things that have happened that have sort
of derailed that a little bit. But we can play with anybody right now, I feel."
The Musketeers are getting around to proving it. Those complementary pieces
include quality size, experience and a pair of 3-point sharpshooters in Lyons
and Brad Redford. Holloway keeps everybody on alert. In Wednesday night's
decisive 14-0 run, he had assists to Wells on three consecutive possessions.
A guy who averaged 19.7 points per game last year shot just five times
Wednesday night. Holloway was busy directing, guarding Saint Joe's top offensive
threat and throwing passes that not many point guards can throw through and
around traffic.
"He must have eyes in the back of his head," Mack said of one pass in
particular.
Of Holloway's overall performance, Mack said "you're playing at a high
level when you can get 12 assists against a team that doesn't really extend
much on defense."
Xavier is gearing towards an extended run and relying on its experience — the
sum of its experiences from this season and in seasons past — in doing so. Xavier
has been in the NCAA Tournament every year since 2006. Holloway and Frease
played on Sweet 16 teams in 2009 and '10.
This team, when it's clicking, can be different. Wells changes games by playing
above the rim. Frease is light years better now than he was then. Andre Walker
is a senior transfer from Vanderbilt who's been in the big games, too. Jeff
Robinson scored 12 off the bench Wednesday night.
"They're the best team in the (Atlantic 10) ... and it's a good
league," Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli said. "They weren't the
best team in the league (three weeks ago), but these last three games, you see
it. It's like a giant stone or a boulder rolling at you and you're going, 'Holy
mackerel.'"
Mack and Company spent much of December seeing things roll at them. They
survived. Now, Xavier is again starting to thrive, starting to roll, starting
to get its swagger back.
Nobody is going to forget The Fight. Not many teams want to see the team that
Xavier is finally becoming after it.
