This was going swimmingly, right until it wasn’t. Xavier took the lead in their first possession and never surrendered it, stretching it to 14 at one point in the second half. Then Ed Sumner picked up a knock and the wheels fell off. “Picked up a knock” doesn’t do it justice, actually; he landed very awkwardly on his left leg after making a layup and was carried off the floor and eventually into the locker room. It didn’t look good.
What did look good - kind of - was the final score. Xavier was able to get out of MSG with the 82-77 win, but the Sumner injury and a sloppy, 19-turnover performance will combine to drain some of the joy from the result.