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Three straight losses leave Xavier still in search of first marquee win

Xavier has lost three straight games for the first time in nearly three years. (AP)
Xavier has lost three straight games for the first time in nearly three years. (AP)

Eighteen games into a season that began with sky-high expectations, Xavier hasn’t accomplished as much as it would have hoped.

The Musketeers have yet to defeat a single team that’s even receiving votes in the latest AP Top 25 poll.

The best team they’ve beaten is likely Clemson, which is off to a 1-4 start to ACC play. The next best might be Utah, which was without two of its four leading scorers at the time. They also boast wins over rebuilding Wake Forest, hapless Missouri and mid-tier Big East foes Providence, Georgetown and St. John’s for whatever that’s worth.

Xavier had a trio of chances in the last seven days to validate its Top 25 ranking, but the Musketeers whiffed on all three. They lost by 25 at Villanova last Tuesday. They blew a nine-point first-half lead at Butler on Saturday. And finally they suffered a 72-67 home loss earlier Monday against a Creighton team that lost its best player to a knee injury midway through the first half.

With Xavier’s season at a crossroads, coach Chris Mack preached positivity. He insisted he still has faith in the Musketeers (13-5, 3-3) even though they’re mired in their first three-game losing streak in nearly three years.

Mack’s optimism is certainly not entirely unfounded. This is still a top-four Big East team that’s on pace to return to the NCAA tournament. Four of the five teams Xavier has lost to this season are top 15 teams and the Musketeers will undoubtedly get better as Edmond Sumner (shoulder) gets healthier and Miles Davis shakes off the rust.

But there’s no denying this year’s Xavier team has more weaknesses than the one that earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament and was a Bronson Koenig buzzer-beating 3-pointer away from a second straight Sweet 16.

Xavier’s biggest flaw this season is a surprising lack of outside shooting. The Musketeers are shooting 32.6 percent from behind the arc and went 15-for-66 on threes during their current three-game losing streak.

Trevon Bluiett is shooting more threes per game than he did last season yet making 7.5 percent fewer of them. Sumner remains a non-shooter and J.P. Macura is still erratic for a designated marksman. And whereas Davis shot 38.1 percent from behind the arc last season, he was suspended for 15 games this year and has yet to make a basket in the three games since he returned.

An ability to attack the rim and consistently get to the foul line has helped Xavier mask its poor outside shooting, but some other issues have recently popped up.

The Musketeers turned the ball over 47 times during their past three games including 17 against Creighton alone. They also missed 13 free throws against the Bluejays, several of which came as they were trying to rally from an 11-point second-half deficit. And while Xavier’s revamped frontcourt has done an great job replicating the rebounding ferocity of James Farr and Jalen Reynolds, the Musketeers have not replaced their rim protection and are not as effective defensively as a result.

If Xavier can fix some of those problem areas, the Musketeers still have a chance to play their way into a high seed in the NCAA tournament. Plenty of opportunities for resume-boosting wins remain including a non-conference clash with rival Cincinnati and return games against Villanova, Butler and Creighton.

But for now, Xavier doesn’t belong in the Top 25 or the Big East title picture. A team with so much promise has mostly underwhelmed so far.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!