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March 22, 2009 | AP Press

BOISE, Idaho — B.J. Raymond scored 15 points and Xavier finally broke through Wisconsin’s defense midway through the second half, pulling away to a 60-49 victory Sunday in the second round of the East Regional.

The Musketeers (27-7) struggled as the Badgers controlled the pace for the first 30 minutes, before Xavier pulled away with a 13-4 run and hung onto the lead from the foul line.

Wisconsin (20-13) kept Xavier off balance, but the tight defense wasn’t quite enough to overcome 29 percent shooting. The Badgers were just 16-for-56 from the floor and made three of 20 3-point attempts.

Marcus Landry scored 18 and Trevon Hughes had 17 points for the Badgers.

Derrick Brown added 15 points and C.J. Anderson pulled down eight rebounds for fourth-seeded Xavier, which will play in Boston on Thursday despite the sloppy performance — the Musketeers were 18-for-46 from the floor and just 18-for-26 from the foul line.

Wisconsin patiently worked the shot clock and even led by a point with about 9:10 remaining before the Musketeers cracked through.

Dante Jackson hit two free throws to give Xavier a 38-37 lead with 8:57 left, starting the 13-4 run that put the Badgers away. After Jackson’s foul shots, Jamel McLean blocked a shot by Landry, then ran down to the other end and took a pass from Terrell Holloway for a two-handed dunk and a 40-37 lead with about 8:30 left.

McLean had another power dunk that put Xavier up 44-39 with 6:06 remaining, and after Landry answered with a dunk for Wisconsin, Jackson banked in a shot and Raymond hit a 3-pointer that stretched the lead to 49-41 — the largest of the game to that point.

Tim Jarmusz hit a 3-pointer for the Badgers, but Kenny Frease got a layup to roll in and Brown hit two free throws for a 53-44 lead with only 1:42 remaining.

Xavier didn’t make field goal for the first three minutes of the second half — even a dunk attempt by Love bounced off the rim — as the Badgers opened with a 6-1 run. Hughes scored on a reverse layup for the first points of the half, then spun 360 degrees for another layup that put Wisconsin up 33-26 and prompted a time out by Xavier with 17:15 left in the game.

Wisconsin led 27-25 after an ugly first half that was just fine with the Badgers, who slowed the game by working the shot clock and keeping the Musketeers from getting any transition opportunities. Xavier was 8-for-23 in the half, only slightly better than Wisconsin’s 8-for-24 performance.

Hughes missed seven of his first eight shots, but made all eight of his free throws and had 10 points at halftime. Xavier committed eight turnovers in the first 20 minutes and didn’t score for the first four minutes of the game.

December 31, 2008 | AP Press

CINCINNATI, OH – Jason Love scored a career-high 15 points as No. 22 Xavier took advantage of its size advantage, and freshman guard Brad Redford added a career-high 15 points from behind the arc Wednesday night, leading the Musketeers to a 78-57 victory over Robert Morris.

Xavier (10-2) was coming off back-to-back losses that sapped the Musketeers’ confidence. They were sloppy and sluggish in a 74-65 home loss to Butler on Saturday that prompted coach Sean Miller to make a lineup change against Robert Morris (6-7).

Freshman point guard Terrell Holloway made his first career start. Holloway is the only true point guard on the roster, and the offense tends to bog down when he’s not on the floor. He finished with six points and a career-high five assists.

Jeremy Chappell led Robert Morris with 17 points.

Holloway was gaining a bigger role each game before he suffered a stress fracture in his left foot, forcing him to miss two games in late November and early December. He has been working back into form from the injury, which has limited his practice time.

He made his mark early on.

Holloway passed to Love for an early basket as Xavier took the ball inside against the Colonials’ overmatched front line. Xavier opened with a 20-9 run built upon its inside game — the 6-foot-9 Love had seven of the points from under the basket and scored a season-high 11 in the first half.

When Robert Morris sagged inside, Xavier took advantage as well. Derrick Brown made an open 3-pointer from the right corner, and Redford made a pair of 3s that pushed it to 38-19. Redford finished 5-of-8, with every shot coming from behind the arc.

Rob Robinson had a pair of baskets that helped the Colonials cut the lead to 50-39 early in the second half. Love and Redford ended the comeback by restoring Xavier’s inside-out balance. Love had a couple of up-close baskets, and Redford made back-to-back 3s that pushed it to 60-41. Xavier led by as many as 26 points before sending in its substitutes.

Jamel McLean had a career-high 11 rebounds, helping Xavier dominate the boards.

November 23, 2008 | AP Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Terrell Holloway made 10 free throws without a miss and finished with 13 points to help Xavier beat Memphis (No. 12 ESPN/USA Today, No. 13 AP) 63-58 on Sunday night in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off championship game.

B.J. Raymond and Jamel McLean added 11 points each for the Musketeers (5-0), and C.J. Anderson finished with 10.

“I’m really proud of our team,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “We really showed a lot of toughness and resiliency in all three games in the tournament.”

Tyreke Evans led Memphis (4-1) with 12 points, but was 4-for-16 from the field. Robert Dozier and Antonio Anderson each scored 10 points.

Both teams struggled from the field, with Xavier shooting 36 percent and Memphis finishing at 32.7 percent. Xavier was 25-for-37 at the line, and Memphis was 15-of-30.

“We’re disappointed with the outcome, but November games are about learning about your team. We did tonight,” Memphis coach John Calipari said.

Holloway made two free throws with 27 seconds to go to give Xavier a 61-58 lead. After Dozier missed two three throws with 17 seconds left, Dante’ Jackson and C.J. Anderson hit free throws in the final seconds to seal the victory.

“C.J. has great toughness,” Miller said. “He’s an incredible leader. Our team follows his lead, especially in toughness.”

Memphis was 38-2 last season, losing the national title game to Kansas in overtime.

“This year’s team is so different from last year’s team and the year before. What disappointed me were our seniors down the stretch,” Calipari said. “Hopefully, we get better as the season goes on. We had chances to win the game, but didn’t make the plays we needed to make to win. We had some guys that played tentative and not to lose tonight. I want guys to make plays and play to win. I wanted this game to be close.”

Xavier opened the tournament with a 75-71 victory over Missouri, then beat Virginia Tech 63-62 in overtime.

“These were three great tests for us,” Miller said. “All three teams attacked us and we responded.”

November 17, 2008 | AP Press

CINCINNATI, OH — B.J. Raymond scored 18 points, hitting all four of his shots from behind the extended 3-point arc, and Xavier’s young lineup made a dozen early turnovers Monday night before settling down and pulling away to an 81-65 victory over Toledo.

Xavier (2-0) dominated the boards and shut down Toledo’s guards, but kept it close by turning the ball over 12 times in the first 12 minutes. Toledo (0-2) led the Mid-American Conference in steals last season, and had eight overall.

A pair of dunks by Jamel McLean started a 21-4 run that put the Musketeers up 36-19 at halftime. Xavier has held both of its opponents under 20 points in the first half — IPFW managed only 14.

Raymond opened the second half by hitting a pair of shots from behind the arc, which was pushed back a foot this season. Xavier led by as many as 23 before Tyrone Kent led a Rockets rally in the closing minutes. Kent, who led the MAC in scoring last season, had a career-high 37 points, going 11-for-20 from the field.