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While some will look only at the final score and suggest that Xavier‘s 73-56 victory over 19th-ranked Butler Saturday afternoon was a significant upset, the reality is it was just a matter of the Musketeers getting back to doing what they do best — winning at home.
Following Xavier’s last two home defeats to St. John’s and Marquette, the Musketeers’ lone home losses of the season, Xavier got back to being a monster at the Cintas Center in holding Butler to 35 percent shooting and forcing 14 turnovers. Myles Davis led Xavier (18-10, 8-7 Big East) with 18 points.
While Xavier is a known quantity at home given its 13-2 record in those games, but if the Musketeers are to make a late-season run in the Big East, they are going to have to improve in true road games. Xavier is only 4-6 in true road games this season, and that’s with wins in three of the last four. Xavier started the season 1-5 away, losing to the likes of DePaul and Auburn.
Of Xavier’s three remaining games, two key road contests await. The first comes with a short turnaround, as the Musketeers head to St. John’s for a Monday night showdown. Xavier will be trying to exact revenge after the Red Storm roared into Cincinnati and notched a 78-70 win on Valentine’s Day. The other road game ends the regular season March 7 at Creighton. That should be an easier test, but the Bluejays have been playing better of late, so nothing is guaranteed.
Wins in both of those games would not only lift Xavier to .500 on the road this season, but it would give the Musketeers at least 20 wins overall and 10 wins in the Big East — a combination that figures to be enough to ensure Xavier gets an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament if they don’t win the Big East Tourney. It also means that perhaps not as much value has to be placed on Xavier’s lone remaining home game, which is next Saturday against No. 6 Villanova, who have also been on a tear of late.
Once the Big East regular season ends, home dominance won’t do the Musketeers any good. And while true road games aren’t necessarily a concern in the postseason (short of playing St. John’s again at Madison Square Garden in the Big East Tournament), Xavier will have to be comfortable playing out of its home element to make any kind of deep run in March.
Ed Morgans is an ACC Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @writered21 and add him to your network on Google.
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