Xavier gets hammered by Arizona State: Three Takeaways

Xavier looked excellent for the first 15 minutes before completely imploding and getting run out of the gym by Arizona State. There will be no 3rd straight Thanksgiving weekend tournamnet title for X, and the inquest is likely just beginning.

There is no plan B in crunch time

When Trevon Bluiett hit his first three to cut Arizona State's lead to 79-73, it looked for all the world like he was about to lead Xavier right back,into the game. He didn't. The next time,he scored was to make it 98-78 and the game was well gone by then. With X needing buckets, no one was able to fill the void and Xavier limped across the line well beaten.

Kanter may be an asset yet

Other than his 15 points against Hampton, Kerem Kanter had struggled to make any sort of impact for Xavier so far until today. A 10 point explosion in the first half fueled Xavier's best period of the game and showed that he brings a wide array of deft post moves to the table and the ability to finish them.

Perimeter defense can't stay this bad

Tra Holder torched Xavier by scoring at will today on his way to 40 points, or as many as Xavier had in the second half as a team. He was hot today, but he also had no trouble getting himself,into the lane, which will be a problem when Xavier comes up against the plethora of deadly slashers in the Big East.