Four college-aged guys, all in Xavier T-shirts, one with his ballcap turned backwards, pressed against the front railing in Section 104 — which on this night, due to NCAA Tournament reconfigurations, towered several feet above the court — and began to yell at the Texas cheer squad:
“Get off our court!
“Go home!
“This is our court ... Get the hell off!”
While this was yet another “through the looking glass” moment on a surreal night for the University of Dayton fans in the boisterous crowd of 12,546 or for those watching the national TV broadcast, it turned out that the four guys were right.
UD Arena got a Muskie makeover Wednesday night.
The storied home of the Dayton Flyers belonged to Xavier, no matter if you measured it by sound or scoreboard.
One veteran UD official who has been instrumental in putting on every Flyers and NCAA Tournament game at the Arena for decades, said Wednesday night may have been louder than any Dayton home game this past season.
“It was really loud!” he said. “They measured it at 120 decibels.”
According to MD Hearing, the auditory aid company in Chicago, that’s comparable to a jet engine at takeoff, a rock concert, or chainsaw near your ear.
Before the opening tip ― from courtside to the 400 level seats, from the above-court suites on one side of the arena to the Flight Deck on the other — the place rocked with “Let’s Go X!” chants.
And Xavier — which trailed for 33 ½ minutes and was down by as many 13 points in the first half — did finally go.,
Led by sharpshooting senior guard Marcus Foster, the Musketeers — with the crowd erupting with each late basket, rebound or steal — clawed their way into the lead in the final minutes and outmuscled Texas for an exhausting but exhilarating 86-80 victory.
And that advanced No. 11 seed Xavier into a first-round game with No. 6 Illinois Friday in Milwaukee.
“They definitely fed off their crowd,” said Texas guard Tramon Mark, who finished with 16 points. “They had a great crowd.”
The Xavier players and Coach Sean Miller, agreed.
“It pretty much felt like a home game,” said Foster, who finished with 22 points, 14 of them in a 10-minute stretch in the second half that erased the Longhorns advantage.
He made eight of nine shots — including four of five three-point attempts — and had a game-high eight rebounds.
“Yeah, a shout out to Xavier Nation,” said 6-foot-9 forward Zach Freemantle. “They came out and supported us great tonight. They were loud. We felt their energy the whole night.”
Miller called it, “One of the greatest games I’ve ever been a part of,” and he saluted the home-away-from-home feel. “The energy of the crowd ... our fans certainly took advantage of the proximity to Cincinnati.”
Yet, while the Xavier campus is a little less than 50 miles away, it’s been a decade since the distance was traversed for a game that counts between Xavier and Dayton, who have played 159 times in the past.
For a half century, Xavier was Dayton’s greatest rival — they first met on the court 105 years ago — but the Musketeers haven’t played a non-exhibition game at UD Arena since 2013 and the teams last played each other in-season back in 2015.
They did meet at UD Arena this past October in a preseason charity game that benefited Jay’s Light, the mental health and suicide prevention initiative for young people that UD coach Anthony Grant and his wife Chris began in the name of their daughter who they lost almost three years ago.
In a rivalry often marred by bad blood, scuffles and hard feelings, the October match-up was a mutual effort steeped in kindness and care and the Grants especially were appreciative of the way Miller and Xavier got on board for a good cause.
So maybe Wednesday night was karma coming back for the Musketeers.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
‘School down south’
That said, it was a tough pill for Flyers fans — some of whom look at Xavier the way Ohio State fans view Michigan — to swallow.
There’s one former UD player, coach and administrator, who today, in his 70s, still refuses to call Xavier by its name.
“I won’t say it,” he said Wednesday. “They’re just the school down south.”
In truth, Xavier is more than just the school down south.”
UD – thanks to the dominance from decades past — might own the all-time advantage over Xavier, 84-75 games, but the Musketeers have dominated the rivalry in recent years.
The have won 28 straight games over UD in Cincinnati, a place where the Flyers haven’t won since 1981.
Dayton has done better when it got the Musketeers into UD Arena. In fact, Miller — from his previous stint as Xavier’s coach (2004-2009) — was 2-3 when he brought his teams up I-75 to play.
That’s why Wednesday night was tough for Flyers fans on a couple of levels. Not only does X make its mark on them in Cincinnati, but, at least on this night Xavier also put a claim on UD Arena.
“I wish there would have been more Dayton fans than Xavier fans,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said afterward.
He knew of the heated rivalry and thought the hometown folks might like to step out for a night sporting burnt orange and flashing “Hook ‘Em Horns” signs.
But the red-clad UD fans who were in attendance were barely noticeable and not heard in the sea of Xavier blue.
Many Dayton backers may have been at home watching the Flyers win their game over Florida Atlantic in the first round of the NIT, though that too was a bittersweet pill.
While Xavier celebrated in the NCAA Tournament on UD’s home court — just as Mount St. Mary’s fans did the same after their team’s 83-72 victory over American in the opening game Wednesday night — the Flyers were forced to play 1,135 miles away in a second-tier tournament in the Owls’ glorified high school gym.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
A memorable night
It made for a strange night all around if you were a UD fan.
And if you backed Xavier, nothing could have been better.
When Freemantle slammed home the last dunk just before the final gun — part of a 15-point night for him that included six points in the final 1:49 — the crowd exploded with the same chant with which it had opened the night:
“Let’s Go X!”
Foster and guard Dante Maddox Jr. put an exclamation point on the night with a running, leaping chest bump at midcourt.
Forward Dailyn Swain momentarily dropped to the court in exhilaration. And just off the floor, the dancing Musketeer cheerleaders waved white placards with black letters that spelled out “XAVIER.”
In the postgame press conference, Miller compared this night to an NCAA Tournament game here in 1993, when he was an assistant under Herb Sendek at Miami and the RedHawks had come into UD Arena and upset a powerful Arizona team led by Damon Stoudamire.
“That win here and then this win tonight are certainly two of the best moments in sports I’ve had,” Miller said.
Ironically, both happened here at UD Arena and involved two of the Flyers longest and once most intense rivals.
But UD wasn’t a part of either of them.
Long after Wednesday’s game was over — after Freemantle, Foster and Swain had finished their on-court interviews with national TV crews and the cheerleaders and pep band members had packed up and gloriously floated up the steep tunnel leading from the court — the cleaning crew went to work.
It began to sweep up the blue confetti and pick up the “Let’s Go X!” signs that lay around the Arena, discarded by the departing crowd.
The First Four was over for Xavier and its fans.
They were on to Milwaukee and the next round of the NCAA Tournament.
But the four guys in Section 104 had been as right as they’d been rude.
For one night Xavier fans could stand in UD Arena and say:
“This is our court!”
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