Last season Xavier made the tournament. This season's team, remarkably, is in a better position.

Ian Sabourin dribbles it out as Xavier notches its fifth straight. It wasn't pretty early, but 8-3 isn't too shabby. Joel will be along to recap.

This one is just winding down. Pape N'Diaye is fun to watch and Borovicanin has had an excellent game. Being a basketball player on campus on Christmas break is weird. You're still doing your thing, but it feels like a ghost town around you.

All Wright keeps scoring, which is good, but not off passes from Borovicanin, which is bad.

10/10/7 for Borovicanin. Start passing, big man!

Missouri State is asserting that Brian O'Connell missed a call. Somewhere, Travis Steele is checking the statute of limitations on challenges.

Filip Borovicanin has 7/9/6 with a lot of time left. Just throwing that out there.

That three pointer for MMM was his first since Nov 21st against Georgia. He was 0-8 since then. He was a deadly mid-volume three point shooter coming into this season.

Xavier is better when they make three pointers. I know this because I am a student of the game.

Xavier leads by three at the half. Richard Pitino is not happy. I am not happy. No one should be happy.

Xavier is shooting terribly again tonight, just 29% from the floor. This is becoming something of a trend.

Missouri St is doubling the post and Tre Carroll is really struggling to pass out of it. Xavier now trails this team from the corpse of Conference USA by four.

At the under 16 it's a very, very sloppy affair tied at 13. Xavier is allowing offensive rebounds, missing shots, and generally looking a little lax at the moment.

Xavier is trying to run a little bit. They're off to a decent start behind Tre Carroll. The crowd lacks the energy of the Shootout, as do I.

The Big East may not be quite the resume boost that it usually is this season.

Tre Carroll went off, Wes Miller was happy, Xavier won at the Cintas. It was a great day to be a Musketeer fan and a game that showed the best, and a little of the worst, of this team. We break it down and revel in another win on this episode of Banter. open.spotify.com/episode/33i9...

Beating UC didn't help the metrics, but is there maybe a way Xavier could go dancing?

This is the first of two recaps we wrote about YET ANOTHER SHOOTOUT WIN.

Tre Carroll indicates UC should leave the building. His building you might say. "We own this f'ing city!" he's screaming. AND HE HITS THEM WITH A ZIP EM UP.

Borovicanin is slingin' it everywhere tonight. Yeah, I said what I said. X up four after a BEAUTIFUL no look pass.

GOD IN HEAVEN CALL A TRAVEL

Four to play. Four point lead. Time to be a legend.

Xavier simply cannot shoot tonight. It's an act of God and Tre Carroll that they are still in this game.

Baba Miller, in a surprise ruling, is not able to be called for his constant hooking or traveling. My fault, should have told you about that before the game.

UC is back within six. It's a 9-2 run for the them as Xavier has remained stone cold from behind the arc. The Musketeers are 5-24 from deep and are missing a lot of really good looks.

The UC zone is troubling Xavier a little bit. Their last two shots have come from just sort of standing until someone heaved.

Wes is worried! Regression to the mean is a thing, and Xavier has ridden it to a 13 point lead.

Xavier leads by nine with 14:13 to play. You feel like these next four minutes are vital.

Four and a half played and Tre Carroll is leading a Xavier resurgence!

We go to the half tied at 37. Xavier is shooting the ball terribly for the second straight first half. 39% overall, 19% from three on 16 attempts, and 67% at the line. With that and UC's control of the glass, the Musketeers have been hanging on a bit.

Xavier leads by three at the under four, but Kerr Kriisa is going to the line for three in this season in which you assume he must be finishing his PhD. Triple M is not playing well for Xavier.

Malik Messina Moore has not made a three since the Georgia game. He has to offer something on the offensive end.

Anthony Robinson is honoring the World Cup draw from today with a bit of footballer level... enhancing of some contact.

MASSIVE minutes from Pape N'Diaye there.

We hit another break with Xavier up three. They are getting slaughtered on the defensive glass, though, and Coach Pitino has gone deep in the bench already.

Jovan Milicevic is yet to score and has picked up a second (really soft) foul.

Filip Borovicanin has come to play and X hits the under 16 leading by five.

UC is getting away with a lot of traveling so far. Milicevic is 0-3 from deep to start.

Borovicanin gets his first Shootout bucket and X is on the board.

Tipoff of the best rivalry in college basketball is just over three hours away. Here is what you need to know.

Hate can be learned, and sometimes it should be taught.

It's Shootout preview time! We get into Xavier's sex man rotation, two point shooting woes, and if Roddie should start all through the lens of the best rivalry in college basketball.

Xavier coasts to a 94-74 win. It wasn't art, but they don't ask how (sometimes), they just ask how many. Good Roddie was torch hot and had 28, but his teammates let him down by getting a little greedy and not find him for his 30. It's on to UC.

This Tru TV package is quite good. I like the announcers, who are admittedly just filling time now, and the production level is in a different galaxy than ESPN. Looking forward to more of this.

When Roddie gets hot, he gets really hot. Up to 26 now and playing at a different speed than everyone else.

Xavier is up to 5-8 from behind the arc and the game is really starting to open up because of that.

Xavier is averaging 1.288 points per possession despite shooting 6-22 behind the arc and only having seven free throws... and the occasional missed dunk.

If, like me, you are curious as to why St. Francis would drop from D1 to D3, here's a really informative article about it. www.forbes.com/sites/karenw...

Xavier is up 18. It doesn't feel like the lead should be that high, but it is. Xavier is stuck in second gear tonight. All Wright is the one starting to try to find a way to shift up.