Bluiett leads Musketeers’ blowout of Bearcats
UC coach, Xavier senior exchange words afterward.
CINCINNATI — Trevon Bluiett had another big game against Xavier’s crosstown rival, one that ended with more hard feelings. The Musketeers’ annual grudge match with Cincinnati fit the mold and left the city’s college basketball fans with plenty to debate for another year.
Bluiett scored 28 points as the 21st-ranked Musketeers ran away to an 89-76 victory over No. 11 Cincinnati on Saturday, their eighth victory in the past 11 games of the series.
The game had three technical fouls and animosity at the end. Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin exchanged words with Xavier senior J.P. Macura and had to be pulled away from the postgame handshake line by an official and an assistant Cincinnati coach.
Xavier coach Chris Mack emotionally defended his player afterward and tried to keep the focus on the Musketeers’ impressive win.
“There’s no other narrative other than us playing better than Cincinnati and beating Cincinnati,” Mack said.
In this one, they were better in all ways.
The Musketeers (7-1) led by 17 midway through the first half. They pushed the lead to 23 in the second half. Cincinnati’s Jacob Evans III hit four straight shots that cut it to 80-72 with 1:26 to go, but Bluiett hit a pair of free throws that put it away. Evans had a teamhigh 23 points.
The Bearcats (7-1) hadn’t faced a ranked team all season, and they came apart against Xavier’s man-to-man defense and patient offense. They haven’t won at Xavier since 2001, when Bob Huggins was the coach. They’ve dropped seven straight at the Cintas Center.
Blueitt had 40 points last season in Cincinnati’s home-court win. He put his imprint on the game with an early 3-pointer and finished it with free throws, playing despite a stiff back that had limited him earlier in the week.
There was a dust-up in the final minute of the first half, when Macura and Cincinnati’s Trevor Moore got technical fouls and Cronin got one for yelling something from the bench.
After the postgame handshake, Cronin turned around and went back toward the Xavier bench, yelling. Cronin said Macura directed an obscenity at him during the game and again afterward.
“If he was playing for me, he wouldn’t play,” Cronin said. “He wouldn’t play for me.”
Mack defended Macura and said ex-Cincinnati player Lance Stephenson directed obscenities at him during their rivalry game years ago, but they shook hands afterward and walked away.
“J.P.’s my guy,” Mack said. “He’s a great kid, and I’m not going to let anyone control the narrative on who they think J.P. Macura is.
“To say ‘he wouldn’t play for me’ — I think that’s disrespectful.”