Xavier coach Skip Prosser usually settles on a seven- or eight-player rotation, and this season is no different. On game days, Alvin Brown, Brandon McIntosh and Marcus Mason mostly model the warmups.

        Those three scholarship players were left out when XU trimmed to an eight-man rotation. The coaches, disappointed by Khalil Nixon's decision to quit because of similar straits, are pleased the other three haven't complained.

        “You can't have a bad attitude about not playing,” McIntosh said. “That's not good for the team.”

        Prosser said their lack of playing time isn't reflective of poor practice play.

        “All those guys I would feel comfortable playing, but we're in an eight-man rotation right now,” he said.

        The lack of time for Brown, a fourth-year junior, seems the most surprising. He sparkled in his limited appearances early this season.

        Brown's .500 shooting (12-of-24) is second on the team to David West (.541).

        Brown played in every game last season, averaging 17.8 minutes and 6.5 points. In the first four games this season, he averaged 9.5 minutes and 6.3 points. But he has totaled just 36 minutes the past 10 — just one minute in four games before an emergency six-minute stint Tuesday.

        “Of course it's tough (not playing),” he said before Tuesday's game. “But so long as we're winning, I'm happy.”

        McIntosh, a junior forward who played 95 minutes last season, has logged just 11 minutes this year. Mason, a senior center, also has totaled 11 minutes, though he played only 29 minutes last season.

        WEST COOKING: West is making a bid for Atlantic 10 Player of the Week, having totaled 58 points and 25 rebounds in two games thus far.

        “He played like a man,” Prosser said Tuesday. “He kept us alive as long as he could.”

        X-FILES: XU had won 24 consecutive games on campus (seven at Cintas Center, 17 at Schmidt Fieldhouse) before losing Tuesday. ... XU's 5-for-22 shooting (.227) in the first half against UMass was its worst in a half this season.

        RECRUIT WATCH: XU signee Will Caudle, a 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward from Indianapolis Warren Central, had his finest game of the season Monday night.

        He totaled 19 points on 9-of-9 shooting and added 13 rebounds (half his team's total) in an 84-66 loss to Pike, Indiana's top-ranked 4A team. Warren Central is No. 2 in 4A.

        UP NEXT: XU begins a two-game road trip at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Rhode Island (4-10, 0-1 Atlantic 10). The Musketeers then visit George Washington (6-8, 0-1) next Tuesday.

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