Something was different on Friday night at Cintas Center.
It wasn't the student section wearing orange and black for the Bengals ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl.
It was something else.
For the first time in what's felt like months, Xavier's men's basketball team put together a complete performance.
Not for one half or 30 minutes.
For 40 minutes, No. 25 Xavier rose to the occasion and outplayed No. 24 UConn and earned a big win in the process, 74-68.
"That was an absolute war," Xavier head coach Travis Steele said. "You know when you're gonna play a UConn team, I told our guys, 'They're one of the hardest-playing, most-physical teams in the entire country.'"
And the Musketeers responded and met that challenge with arguably their best performance in Big East Conference play.
The recent slow starts and inconsistencies that have plagued the Musketeers for the majority of conference play weren't a problem on Friday night like they were 48 hours earlier in a loss at Seton Hall.
The second half at Seton Hall was a revelation, though, for Steele.
"I felt like we had the connectivity," Steele said Friday when asked if anything about the loss at Seton Hall led him to believe his team might be moving in the right direction again.
"I thought we were fighting. I thought we played really hard in that second half against Seton Hall. I felt like we had our team back. And I told the group that. Listen, even though we didn't get the result we wanted, right? Lost a close one. I felt really confident going into this game that we were back. And I think our guys showed that tonight."
Friday's win over UConn started with the best first half Xavier's played in months. Xavier took care of the ball, battled on the glass, defended at a high level and they took good shots.
All of which led to a 34-31 halftime lead, thanks to a circus 3-pointer at the buzzer from Nate Johnson, who played his best game since the win at Creighton with 12 points and a pair of 3-pointers.
There was one play in particular that stuck in Steele's mind when he met with the media after the game.
"Nate Johnson got stuck on (UConn big man) Adama Sanogo. Sanogo's the best front-court guy in our league," said Steele. "... He's an absolute monster. And Nate didn't allow him to get the rebound. He blocked him out. He was fighting down there. He was in an absolute war. It was just really good to see because I didn't think that was us at Seton Hall."
Xavier was more physical than UConn, one of the best rebounding teams in the country. The Musketeers out-rebounded the Huskies 35-31.
Jack Nunge was masterful. The 7-foot Iowa transfer set the tone on the glass, blocking out every time a shot went up. He made a pair of 3-pointers and Xavier made it a priority to get him the ball early and often. Nunge finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, and he drew eight fouls and went 8-of-10 at the foul line.
Paul Scruggs and Zach Freemantle got going in the second half and it helped Xavier create some separation. Scruggs made Xavier's first three baskets of the second half and finished with nine points and three blocked shots. Freemantle had a slow start but finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.
Colby Jones had eight points, six assists and five rebounds. Dwon Odom played really well again with eight points and two assists.
On a night when Xavier made only four 3-pointers and didn't have Adam Kunkel, who was out with a non-COVID illness, the Musketeers managed to have a really solid night offensively.
"I thought we got to our spots," said Steele. "Paul was getting to the rim, especially there in the second half. Dwon was getting to his little tuck shot that he has. We were posting Freemantle. I thought we were getting UConn in rotation, which would open up the lane a little bit for drives.
"They take away threes pretty well because they're so long and athletic ... and I thought our guys did a really nice job, again, of just making the right plays, just taking what the defense gave them."
It's another Quad 1 win for the Musketeers, their fifth of the season. Xavier's now 17-7 and 7-6 in the Big East.
The Musketeers are back in action on Wednesday at home against St. John's.
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