by David Cassilo / @dcassilo
It wasn’t long ago that No. 14 Xavier was considered a sleeper pick for the Final Four, but since its brawl against Cincinnati, the team has been in shambles, dropping two in a row, including Thursday night’s 68-58 loss to Long Beach State at the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii.
Although the Musketeers got star guard Tu Holloway back against the 49ers, they were still without Mark Lyons, Dez Wells and Landen Amos. Lyons and Wells are the second and third highest scorers on Xavier, and their absence has been evident as the team has managed its two lowest scoring games in the losses.
Against Long Beach State, the Musketeers had just 21 first half points and could not avoid the upset even with Holloway’s 17 points. However, after the game the senior guard was not wallowing in defeat.
From Cincinnati.com:
“When we win a lot of games late in the season, when we’re 28-2 or whatever the case may be, it’s going to feel good because we know we had bad days like this,” Holloway said. “So at the end of the day, at the end of the road, we know we’re going to be all right.”
Xavier gets some good news for its game on Friday against Hawaii as Lyons will return from his suspension.
