Xavier got off to a slow start, trailing 7-5 at the first media timeout. They were able to pick things up on offense, surging out to a 17-14 lead with 11:52 left in the first half behind 6/9 shooting from the field and 3/5 shooting from deep.
The run continued, stretching to 14-3 over a 5:25 stretch. After a three by Ryan Welage, they led 27-17 with 8:12 left in the first half. After the timeout, Miami made a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 27-23. However, Xavier responded with an 8-0 run of their own to push the lead back to double-digits, 35-23 with 3:41 in the first half.