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It wasn’t until 1996 when UMass was the No. 1 in the country that the Minutemen and Xavier faced one another with at least one team being ranked. Since that first game, the two schools have faced off four other times with one team being ranked ‘- and three of the five matchups have gone to overtime.
Xavier holds a 3-2 advantage in those five games, but when UMass travels to
Here is a look at the other five matchups:
No. 1 UMass 78 at Xavier 74 (Overtime)
Feb. 4, 1996: The first-ever meeting between the two schools with at least one of the two teams being ranked. The Minutemen came into the game as the top team in the nation and, under coach John Calipari, 20-0. Xavier, on the other hand, was a .500 squad at 9-9, but looking for the upset.
At half, the upset seemed possible, as the Musketeers led the Minutemen 32-31, and even with just two-and-a-half minutes remaining, when Xavier was on top 67-62. But UMass closed the game out on a 6-1 run, capped off by a 3-pointer by Edgar Padilla with 15 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime with a score of 68-68.
Neither team pulled far away from the other in overtime until the final 10 seconds. With UMass up by two after Marcus Camby hit 1-of-2 free throws, Padilla knocked the ball away from Xavier’s Lenny Brown. Charlton Clarke picked up the loose ball and layed it in as the buzzer sounded to give UMass a four-point victory, its biggest lead of the game. Xavier led by as many as 11 in the first half.
Tyrone Weeks led the Minutemen with a career-high 13 rebounds and Camby poured in 26 points to lead all scorers.
No. 20 Xavier 87 at UMass 84 (Overtime)
Feb. 1, 1997: For the second year in a row, the Minutemen and the Musketeers couldn’t settle things in just 40 minutes.
UMass wasn’t the same team it was a year before; It wasn’t ranked, had no more Marcus Camby (drafted No. 2 overall by the Toronto Raptors in the 1996 draft) and James ‘Bruiser’
This time around, UMass was in control, holding the lead for almost the entire first half and leading by as many as seven. The second half saw the lead go back and forth but eventually end up equal at the end of regulation.
Carmelo Travieso, who broke the 1,000-point marker in his career that night, led the Minutemen with 29 points and tied a school-record with eight 3-pointers in the game.
One of Travieso’s 3-pointers came with 13 seconds remaining in overtime that brought UMass within one. Xavier answered back with two made free throws, and with 1.5 seconds remaining, Travieso took a 3-point shot from the baseline in hopes of forcing a second overtime. But Xavier’s James Posey, the James Posey who helped the Celtics win an NBA title in 2008, got a hand up and blocked the shot, sealing the victory for the Musketeers.
No. 23 UMass 73 at No. 21 Xavier 62
Feb. 8, 1998: For the third year in a row the Minutemen and Musketeers faced off with at least one team being ranked; but unlike in the first two meetings, both schools were ranked this time.
Despite the two teams being ranked closer than in the previous two meetings, this game was nowhere near as close. Overtime was needed to decide the previous two games but this one was over by halftime. The Minutemen had built an 18-point lead while shooting 63 percent from the field in the first half and held the Musketeers to just 29 percent. They also finished the half on a 27-9 run to make it 43-25 going into the locker room.
UMass suffocated Xavier with its inside game, and held Posey ‘- who was often regarded as the best sixth man in the country ‘- to four points. The Minutemen were led by Weeks once again, who fell two rebounds short of a double-double, with his 10 points and eight rebounds.
No. 24 Xavier 65 vs. UMass 59 (Overtime)
March 7, 2002: For the first time UMass and Xavier faced off in the A-10 tournament with one team being ranked, but despi
te the Minutemen dominating every aspect of the game, they still lost in overtime.
UMass shot 48.9 percent from the floor compared to Xavier’s 29.8, hit 23 shots compared to the Musketeers 14 and even out-rebounded them 33-28. But none of it was enough as Xavier was awarded 32 more foul shots than UMass, hitting 33-of-44 from the line.
The Minutemen led for most of the second half. UMass went on a 10-1 run after Xavier took a 35-33 lead with 15:27 remaining in the game, and held the lead until 2:42 left. With the score knotted at 48, Xavier’s David West hit a shot as the shot-clock buzzer sounded to give Xavier the lead. The shot, however, was shrouded in controversy. While the basket was awarded to the Musketeers, a second look at a replay showed that West did not get the shot off in time.
Despite controlling much of the game, UMass still needed a prayer 3-point shot from Eric Williams with under a second left to send it to overtime. But the Minutemen’s dominance ended once overtime began.
Xavier started the extra time with an 8-0 run, going up 60-52 with 1:52 remaining. UMass did make a final push, cutting the deficit to 61-57, but it came too late.
No. 23 Xavier 77 at UMass 65
Jan. 27, 2008: The most recent matchup between UMass and Xavier may have been the least thrilling of them all.
Xavier took its first lead of the game at 8-7, just four minutes into the game, and never gave it up. The Musketeers built an 18-point lead at one point during the second half, 49-31, all after a poor shooting performance in the first half. The Musketeers went 10-of-27 from the floor in the first half and 15-of-30 in the second half.
UMass did put together a late run, bringing the game to within five at 68-63 with under two minutes to go but it ended there. Xavier scored on three straight possessions and finished the game on a 9-2 run.
Etienne Brower who scored 22 points off the bench led the Minutemen, but it wasn’t enough as three of UMass’ five starters combined for just 10 points (Ricky Harris, Tony Gaffney and Dante Milligan). Even Gary Forbes, who averaged over 20 points per game, struggled scoring just 16 points (5-of-15 from the floor) and missed half of his 10 free throws.
Information from personal interviews, newspaper articles and sports releases was used in this report.
Jeffrey R. Larnard can be reached at jlarnard@student.umass.edu.
