Feel like Mullin coached this game pretty well overall. When he knew Sima was out, he went to a full court press that at times, caused the Xavier guards to turnover the ball. Also the double screen play call for Mussini's 3 at the top of the key to cut the lead to 63-59 was better than anything I saw Lavin set up after 5 years of watching that guy on the sidelines.
This game was the first since the Syracuse win that had me truly excited for the future, even in a losing effort. It seems like Mullin is finally getting accustomed to leading a team from the sidelines. This year's gonna be long, and I'd be surprised if we get more than 3-4 wins in conference play, but today's play showed the guys that with effort you can compete, but experience from defeats like these will help them win these games in the future.