Xavier beats Auburn, but Miller still upset with effort

The Xavier Musketeers men's basketball team escaped a late collapse against Auburn on Wednesday night to come away with an 81-74 victory over the Tigers.
The Musketeers jumped out to a 22 point lead with 11:36 left in the game before allowing the Tigers to close on a 37-25 run. Miller attributed the late Auburn run to problems by some of the Xavier players' lack of intensity.
"I was disappointed with our team's effort level. We have to address a couple of players. You are not going to start, you are not going to play unless you play hard," Miller said. "We gotta run back [on defense]."
The lack of defensive intensity down the stretch has become a common theme for the Musketeers. Xavier allowed a 23 point lead with 6:00 left be slimmed to 14 points in the final minutes against Toledo, and escaped with a three point win over Findlay in the exhibition game after holding a lead of greater than 20 points.
Miller noted the propensity to collapse late, and plans to cure the problem through added intensity in practice.
"The good news for me is that I have seven days before our next game, and around here it is going to be like we are 0-7," Miller said.
Miller cited Xavier's lack of strength with the ball, inability to accept fouls, or make the subsequent foul shots, lethargic effort in transition and offensive mistakes such as giving up the dribble in poor areas. Although he was apprehensive to name which players he was most displeased with, Miller did not seem to like the games that his upperclassmen leaders Derrick Brown and C.J. Anderson played, citing a poor game by Anderson and noting that the team needs Brown to "run hard."
While Anderson and Brown may not have put forth their best efforts, the team's other senior leader B.J. Raymond played his best game of his career, scoring a career high 32 points and grabbing six rebounds.
The 32 points was the highest total by a Xavier player since Stanley Burrell scored 32 against Duquesne in 2005, and was fueled by a hot night from long-range, as Raymond was 7-9 from three point range. Raymond, who had been shooting 28.6 percent from three point range on the year, attributed the success to a some changes in practice.
"I went back to the drawing board. My mechanics were good tonight: my balance, my follow-through. It had nothing to do with me lucking it in. [Once I found my shot], my teammates just found me, and I made some shots," Raymond said.
While Raymond was going off fro what Miller called "one of the best games that I have seen a Xavier player play in my eight years here," the rest of the Musketeers were struggling and failing to play at full intensity, something that did not escape Raymond.
"We are probably the worst 7-0 team in the country right now. We have to get better," Raymond said.