Prosper’s tip-in gives MU a huge Big East victory
It wasn't just the ball floating in the air in the waning seconds. First place in the Big East was also hanging in the balance.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper grabbed fate with the tips of his fingers, tapping in an offensive rebound with 1.6 seconds remaining to lift the 11th-ranked Golden Eagles to a dramatic 69-68 victory over No. 16 Xavier on Wednesday evening at Fiserv Forum.
MU (21-6, 13-3 Big East) solidified its lead in the league standings and won't play again until another high-stakes game at Creighton on Tuesday. The Musketeers (19-7, 11-4) looked for most of the game like they were going usurp the top spot, but instead fell back into second place with Creighton and Providence. All three of those teams play other conference foes on Saturday.
“Doing what I do, I crash the opposite glass every time,” Prosper said. “I knew if (teammate Kam Jones) missed it, that was my rebound.
“And I just went as hard as I could. It bounced right and I just went up there and put it back in. That's just an effort play. Something I've done many times over this year in practice or whatever.”
Olivier-Maxence Prosper comes up with clutch plays
The winning putback wasn't the only clutch play by Prosper.
With the Golden Eagles trailing 6663, Stevie Mitchell came up with his sixth steal and Tyler Kolek fed Prosper for a tough layup with 29 seconds left.
MU head coach Shaka Smart called timeout and set the stage for the wild finish.
First, Smart inserted freshman Chase Ross to harass the inbounder and the Golden Eagles forced a turnover. A baseline-out-of-bounds play led to Oso Ighodaro getting fouled and making two clutch free throws to give the Golden Eagles the lead.
But Xavier raced down the court and got a layup from Jack Nunge with eight seconds left. MU didn’t call a timeout, with Kam Jones driving to the right side of the paint and putting up a good look at the basket that bounced off the rim.
Then Prosper came to crash the boards – and the party – with his tip-in.
“They had the ball, I think there was 29 seconds left and we didn’t just want to foul,” Smart said. “Particularly (Souley) Boum. He’s almost automatic at the line.
“So we went to one of our presses and I told the guys be as aggressive as you can be. And I told them they like to throw the ball in and then back to the inbounder, so rotate up and make that a tough pass. They did a great job of that and forced a turnover.
“And then we were able to get the ball and do what we did. But Kam Jones deserves a lot of credit because it wasn’t his best game, but he hung in there and stayed connected with his team and his teammates. Just his presence on the floor offensively, even though he only scored five points, is a huge differencemaker for us.”
Prosper, who finished with seven points, has been alternating single-digit and double-digit scoring performances over his last eight games.
So to play the hero in front of 16,041 screaming fans was therapeutic for Prosper.
“It’s about sticking with it,” Prosper said. “Maybe not my best shooting night today. But it doesn’t matter. I stick with it. I stick with the process. And I was, like, my team needs me. My team needs me down the stretch to be my best. And to stay aggressive. Stay confident.”
Mitchell does all the little things as a ‘domino’
The Golden Eagles suffered through a frigid shooting start and had to climb out of a 13-point deficit in the first half.
The second half was a back-andforth slugfest among two Big East heavyweights. The Musketeers hung tough despite being short-handed without Zach Freemantle (foot), Desmond Claude (non-COVID illness) and Kam Craft (knee).
MU needed to find a spark with hustle
plays, and most of them were provided by Mitchell, the sophomore guard who also scored a team-high 17 points.
Xavier had 17 turnovers, with six coming on Mitchell’s steals. MU had 15 offensive rebounds, with Mitchell grabbing three and Ighodaro six.
“Just play my role, just do what I came in the game trying to do,” Mitchell said. “Just guard. Play hard. And just let everything else take care of itself.
“We’re always going to stick together if the shots aren’t going in or are going in. We’re always going to play as a team. And play together because we love each other. We got good relationships with each other. Regardless of what’s happening on the offensive end, we know defense is something we can control.”
Smart’s motivational prop - after a water pitcher earlier this month - for the game was a domino box held by walk-on Jonah Lucas on the bench. This week,
everyone in the program had personalized dominos upon which they wrote what they would bring to the team.
“Mine was encourage and celebrate teammates for making little winning plays,” Mitchell said. “So we all wrote something down on that and put it in the box.
“And just used that to stay committed to being a domino for each other. When you have that many dominos on your team, things are going to tilt that way. And I think that’s what happened.”
Smart has made “energy-generating behaviors” a cornerstone of the program, and no player exemplifies that more than Mitchell.
“He’s one of a kind,” Smart said. “They broke the mold when they made him. He’s just made of some really special stuff.
“Very, very high character. And an unbelievable level of care. The care factor for him is as high as I’ve ever seen. That can work against you sometimes because when things don’t go perfect your mind can get racing. But I thought Stevie all game long had great aggressiveness. He was flying around.”
Golden Eagles control Big East title destiny
MU has four more regular-season games in pursuit of its first Big East title since the 2012-13 season.
The players are enjoying the ride after most outsiders had low expectations for the team.
“That’s where it all starts, is the fun that we have being with each other,” Prosper said. “Every day we come to practice, workouts, during the games, we’re having fun.
“We enjoy our company. We enjoy being around each other. Like coach says, it’s a domino. That’s our biggest domino. How we are about each other.”
Smart, ever philosophical, saw the game as valuable beyond the standings.
“I’ll be honest, I could sense it in shootaround a little bit, there was a little bit of ‘Oh, wow, this is a big game, first place is on the line,’ “Smart said. “We don’t necessarily have a team that’s been in that situation a lot.
“So this is a learning curve for us. You can’t go play you best if you’re playing through avoidance goals. To go not mistakes or not miss a shot or not give up a basket. You’ve got to be attacking and aggressive and let your hair down and go after it. And I thought we did a much better job of that in the second half.”