By Stretch Jenkinson

3 19 2024

ATHENS, Ga.  – Xavier men’s basketball wrapped up the 2023-24 season in the NIT First Round, falling at Georgia, 78-76, on Tuesday evening. The Musketeers finished the season at 16-18 overall.

It was a one-to-two possession game for most of the first half, with the teams trading leads for the first five minutes, and the Bulldogs stretching the lead to as many as eight in the first 12 minutes. In the final minute of the half, Georgia scored six unanswered to take a 46-34 lead into the break.

Abou Ousmane led Xavier in the first half with 10 points, and the Musketeers shot just over 40 percent from the floor, but just 1-of-7 from three, while the Bulldogs shot 50 percent from the field and 3-of-7 from three.

In the second half, Xavier would get as close as eight early in the half, but a 17-2 run stretch the UGA advantage out to 23, 65-42.

A Desmond Claude three started a stretch were the Musketeers began to chip away at the lead, with the Musketeers out scoring the Bulldogs 23-7 over a six minute stretch to get the lead to single digits, 74-66, in the final five minutes.

Another Xavier run, this time 13-2, which featured eight points from Desmond Claude, made it a two-point lead late, but the Musketeers would be unable to tie it up, setting the final score at 78-76 in favor of Georgia.

Desmond Claude had 23 points in the second half to lead the Musketeers. Xavier finished with a 53.6 shooting percentage from the floor, going 7-of-13 from three, while Georgia shot 37.8 percent from the floor, going 3-of-9 from outside.

• Desmond Claude finished with 30 points, shooting 5-of-6 from three, to lead all scorers.
• Quincy Olivari finished with 11 points, hitting a pair of threes to finish the season with 106 made three pointers, a new single season record for made threes.
• Abou Ousmane finished with 10 points, going over 1,000 point for his college career in the first half. Ousmane also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
• Dayvion McKnight also had 10 points.
• Xavier had a 50-38 advantage on the boards, but the Bulldogs had a. 13-8 advantage on the offensive glass, leading to a 14-8 advantage on second-chance points.

COURTESY XAVIER ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS