The Moment That Made Them: Dee Davis

Xavier’s TBT team is comprised of fan favorites and cult heroes of teams gone by. In this brief series we are going to focus on the moment that encapsulates that players career. This won’t necessarily be the guy’s best game or his biggest scoring output, but it will be the one (we think) that demonstrates what he meant to the program or the one that everyone will remember. Feel free to disagree in the comments and on Twitter.

Dee is listed as the point guard/general manager for Zip Em Up TBT. If you follow him on social media, you know he has been pulling a lot of the strings to get the team to this point. Before he was stacking rosters, traveling the world to play basketball, and even selling his own merch, he was balling out for Xavier.

Dee played in a ton of games for Xavier - 133 in all, including a couple of Sweet 16 appearances - but there’s only one that stands head and shoulders above the rest in the Musketeer legendarium. That would be the Crosstown Shootout contested on February 18, 2015.

“Our scouting report said to walk away from number 11 on the three point line,” one Bearcat meekly and memorably reported in the post-game presser. Davis set out to immediately demonstrate how flawed that premise was. Out of the first media timeout, he cashed out from deep. With just under 7 minutes left in the first half and UC on a 10-2 run, he hit again. That would spark a 21-6 burst over the next 6:42 that saw Xavier go from down three to up a dozen at the break. During that run, Dee would rack another pair of three balls to take himself to a perfect 4-4 from deep in the half.

Dee’s last three of the first half came with 5 seconds left in the period. He then went silent for over 19 minutes. All that was just prologue to his capping moment. With a minute left and the hostile 5/3rd Arena crowd going absolutely nuts... well, just watch:

What I didn’t notice in the moment because I was too busy throwing up in my mouth was how much more calm Dee Davis was than I was. Look at the aplomb with which he gathers the inbound, like he’s just checked the ball in a pickup game. He only lowers his dribble to change hands right before dishing to Matt Stainbrook, who is about to pick up the easiest assist of his career. A burst of speed to set the decoy screen for JP, then he turns the corner into clear air. Feet set, cock it back, launch it into the stratosphere. Splappa.

Dee was 5-5 from behind the arc that game. It was a Shootout that had it all (for Xavier fans): a brilliant run to end the first half, and clutch finale to gut the Cincinnati fans who had wasted their whole night watching it, and the revelation afterward that UC lost because Mick Cronin had porked the poodle in his game prep.

Through his 133 games in Muskie colors, Dee carried the banner for X as well as maybe anyone else has. For one night in Cincinnati, he rose above his usual already lofty standard to drive a dagger through the heart of the hated crosstown rival and give Xavier fans a gift they’ll never forget.