In case you follow college basketball, this is your yearly reminder that it's really, really hard to win in the Cintas Center, home of the Xavier Musketeers. The Muskies are 13-0 at home in Cincinnati this season, and since the building was finished and opened in 2000, Xavier has gone 185-25 at home.


The latest victim of the black magic that is the Cintas Center? The Georgetown Hoyas.

To the average viewer, this game was put away about 5 minutes into the second half. Georgetown sat on a comfortable lead of 17 points, led by Markel Starks and ex-Xavier commit D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera and an absurd touch from beyond the arc. Georgetown ended the game 10 of 18 from the arc and their ability to run the vaulted Princeton offense looked to put them solidly as the #3 team in the Big East.


And then Cintas Center Magic took over. Xavier chipped away at the lead, using a full court press and a charge to the basket led by potentially NBA-ready guard Semaj (pronounced "Se-mah-jay" for those not in the know) Christon and transfer forward/center Matt Stainbrook, crashing the boards at every opportunity. As Georgetown found themselves in foul trouble and the physicality rose (including a particularly scary sequence which involved Xavier forward Isaiah Philmore seeming to tweak his knee), Xavier pushed forward more and more.

That was until Christon hit the bench with 4 fouls and 9 minutes left in the half. What should have been the nail in the coffin, however, ended up playing into Xavier's favor, as, with under 4:00 to go, Myles Davis dropped a gorgeous 3 pointer, with an assist from Dee Davis (no relation) to give Xavier a one point lead, a lead which they would never surrender for the remainder of play.


What was the final line of this tremendous comeback? Xavier went on a 44-14 run to end the game, winning by 13 after being down by 17...15 minutes prior.

Yet...this seems oddly familiar.

Like in 2011, when the Xavier Musketeers, then ranked 11th in the nation, were down 19 points to an upstart Purdue squad. In spite of lights out shooting on the part of the Boilermakers, they went completely silent in the second half, and even saw star player Robbie Hummel inexplicably fall to the floor with cramping late in the game. And how would it end? With Tu Holloway sinking two consecutive three pointers to finish yet another absurd comeback.


And in both games, the Hoyas and Boilermakers didn't make a single field goal for a little over the last 6:00 of the game. Yeah. Zoinks indeed.

It's impressive, but it's scary. Scary that Xavier can seemingly shoot themselves in the foot and then watch as their opponents take the gun and show the Musketeers how they can shoot themselves in the foot even better. And that they can only do this in the confines of their home arena.


The Musketeers sit at 4-1 in conference play, still undefeated at home this season and have both ranked Big East Rivals (Villanova and Creighton) visiting Cincinnati later this season. They might want to bring some shamans or Pete Carroll or something because the Cintas Center is a place of black magic that is not to be trusted.

(Photo credit: goxavier.com)