Wisconsin's Steve Vershaw steals from Kevin Frey. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        MADISON, Wis. — Xavier fans who called Channel 64 to ask why the game Saturday wasn't on should have called back later. To thank it.

        The technical difficulties that knocked out the broadcast spared two hours of anguish. Wisconsin rolled past the Musketeers 61-46

        The 23rd-ranked Badgers, one of the nation's top defensive teams, held XU to 27.3 percent shooting. Xavier totaled just 12 baskets, believed to be its lowest single-game total in a decade.

        The game wasn't as close as the score, as XU scored the game's last six points in garbage time.

        “They executed,” XU center David West said. “We didn't. That's it. We weren't the tougher team.”

Frey fouls Andy Kowske. | ZOOM |

        In the preseason, senior point guard Maurice McAfee had written in an online diary there were days XU looked so good in practice he thought about going undefeated.

        Now after just one road game, the Musketeers must be careful not to teeter too far in the opposite direction. Their locker room Saturday held stunned silence.

        XU (4-1) figures to improve immensely with the return of Lloyd Price, the preseason Atlantic 10 first-teamer who's still out with an ankle sprain. But the Muskies must muster an explanation for a maddening shooting slump.

        “They played great defense against us today, but we can't use that as an excuse,” McAfee said. “We've got good shooters, but the shots aren't going down.”

        XU made four of 20 3-point attempts Saturday. It ranks last in the A-10 in 3-point shooting at .260 (26 of 100), after going .351 from that range last year.

        “I just think the guys are thinking too much,” said Jeff Battle, XU's assistant in charge of the backcourt. “They're not letting the shots come to them.

        “Good shooters taking good shots usually leads to a high percentage. We have some good shooters. Right now, they're taking a lot of tough shots.”

        Wisconsin (3-1) often forced long or ill-advised 3- point shots by making XU burn the shot clock.

        “They took a lot of things from us,” Battle said. “We got down, we panicked, and that forced our offense to be rushed a little bit. Guys took some hurried shots.”

        The only bright spot Saturday was XU forcing 20 turnovers. Four early turnovers helped the Musketeers race to a 10-2 lead.

        Then the Badgers settled into their precision motion offense. They shot .553 and gave XU coach Skip Prosser fodder for a film session today.

        “Hopefully the kids learn, from an offensive standpoint, to use the screens the way the Wisconsin kids did, and you'll get better looks at the basket than what we got,” Prosser said.

        XU trailed just 33-27 at halftime but didn't score on its first 10 possessions of the second half.

        Wisconsin scored 11 straight points and led 44-27 before West finally ended the scoring drought with a basket nearly nine minutes into the half.

        To its credit, XU played with emotion. The players tried to shout encouragement even after the score turned ugly. Prosser was still calling out plays to run in the last half-minute.

        “I think we have fight in us,” senior center Reggie Butler said.

        Said Prosser: “The atten tion to detail you have to do to win a game like this, we didn't have it. This is a tough place to play, a tough place to win, a good team we played. We didn't step up and make plays the way they did.”

        Prosser talked before this trip about giving his young team a chance to learn lessons.

        “The telling task will be what happens the next two days in practice,” he said. “That will reflect in whether we learned anything.”

        The Musketeers vow they will.

        “We'll rebound,” forward Kevin Frey said. “We're winners.”

McAfee struggles at small forward
WXIX blames satellite

XAVIER (46)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Frey            3&  S�j�   �j�   �j�  �  s�    �j 
Sato            31   0-3   2-2   1-4  0  2    2
West            33  4-12   3-5   3-9  0  3   11
Chalmers        35  3-11   0-1   0-0  1  4    7
Mcafee          28   3-8   4-6   1-3  1  3   12
Nixon            5   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Young           13   0-1   2-5   0-0  1  1    2
Mcintosh         1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Brown           12   1-3   0-0   0-0  2  3    2
Butler          10   0-1   2-2   0-0  0  1    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 12-44 18-27  5-20  5 21   46
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.273, FT-.667. 3-Point Goals:
4-20, .200 (Frey 1-4, Sato 0-1, Chalmers 1-8,
Mcafee 2-6, Young 0-1). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked
shots: 1 (West). Turnovers: 15 (West 5, Chalmers
4, Butler 2, Brown, Sato). Steals: 9 (West 3,
Chalmers 2, Brown, Butler, Sato, Young).


WISCONSIN (61)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Kowske          24   3-5   4-6   0-5  2  4   10
C Wills         20   1-3   0-0   0-3  2  4    3
Penney          34  9-13   2-2   0-3  2  3   24
Kelley          25   0-0   0-0   0-1  3  2    0
Boone           29   5-7   5-8   1-6  2  2   16
Schmit           2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Ukawuba          2   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Bower           23   1-4   0-0   0-1  2  1    3
Grusczynski      1   0-0   0-1   0-0  0  0    0
Owens            6   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  3    0
Mader            6   0-1   0-0   0-1  0  3    0
Vershaw         28   2-4   1-2   1-7  1  2    5
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 21-38 12-19  2-27 14 25   61
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.553, FT-.632. 3-Point Goals:
7-13, .538 (C Wills 1-3, Penney 4-5, Boone 1-1,
Bower 1-3, Vershaw 0-1). Team rebounds: 4.
Blocked shots: 2 (Kelley, Boone). Turnovers: 20
(Boone 4, Vershaw 4, Bower 2, Kelley 2, Kowske 2,
Owens 2, Penney 2, C Wills, Ukawuba). Steals: 7
(C Wills 2, Kowske 2, Boone, Bower, Owens).
__________________________________
Xavier             27   19  -   46
Wisconsin          33   28  -   61
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 16,378. Officials:
Mike Sanzere, Arnie Mcdonald, Gary Bova.

---

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