How would you have wanted this game to start? Xavier has been in dogfights all season, including the away leg of this matchup, where they turned an 18-point second-half lead into a semi-nervy 5-point win. Now down a starter and coming off an OT battle against Providence, you’d hope the home team could come out hot and maybe give themselves a chance to work some depth rather than continue running the starters ragged.
With just 2:36 gone in the first half, St. John’s was already calling timeout as Xavier was yet to miss a shot and leading 10-2.