COLLEGE BASKETBALL Xavier rolls against E. Kentucky

The 21st-ranked Musketeers must now play No. 18 Creighton and No. 1 Alabama.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- No. 18 Creighton. No. 1 Alabama. The next two games will give everyone a good idea of whether No. 21 Xavier deserves to be ranked among the nation's elite.
David West worries that he knows the answer already.
The Preseason All-America didn't need any prodding to harshly criticize his team following an uninspired 84-60 victory Saturday night over Eastern Kentucky.
The Musketeers (8-2) did exactly what was expected as they beat an overmatched team. West wasn't happy with their methods.
Simply put, West thinks the Musketeers are severely lacking in a critical area: cohesiveness.
"We're just not playing together," West said. "We're not passing to certain guys. If Romain [Sato] is hitting his shots, guys don't want to keep getting him the ball."
Sato leads way
Sato had 23 points Saturday, a second straight solid game after emerging from a prolonged shooting slump.
And Xavier was never seriously challenged after opening with a 22-6 run that allowed the capacity crowd to settle in and leave early.
"We had some very good moments and some very bad moments," coach Thad Matta said. "We have to get going. The road doesn't get much easier from here."
That's what worries West, who passed up the NBA so he could play his senior season. He figured the Musketeers, ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll, were capable of great things.
Instead, they've stumbled badly in their two biggest games, losing to Stanford in the Preseason NIT and to Mississippi State. The upcoming week gives them a chance to either save face or lose respect.
They play No. 18 Creighton at home Tuesday night, then face No. 1 Alabama on the road Saturday. If the Musketeers don't play with more cohesiveness and intensity than they did against Eastern Kentucky (5-5), they could be in for a costly week.
"If we think we can win on Tuesday, we're crazy," West said. "We're setting ourselves up."
Minimum effort
Xavier did the bare minimum to beat an overmatched team Saturday. Eastern Kentucky clamped 7-foot center Tim Volpenhein and another defender on West whenever he got the ball, forcing him to pass outside.
Sato took advantage by scoring 15 of his 23 points in the first half, and five Xavier players reached double figures. The problem was that after Xavier pushed the lead to 28 early in the second half, it went soft and let Eastern Kentucky get the lead down to 16.
Eastern Kentucky coach Travis Ford had criticized his team for being too soft and unemotional. He liked the way it responded after it fell behind.
"There were a few moral victories, going against a Top 25 team like that," Ford said. "I scheduled this one on purpose. We wanted to be challenged by a team that plays unbelievable defense and has the best player in the country on the floor."
Didn't meet challenge
Instead, West felt that Xavier didn't meet the challenge.
"I don't know how coach is going to take this, but we're not playing together like a team," said West, who had 13 points and 13 rebounds despite getting hit in the eye in the first half. "That's obvious. The village idiot can see that.
"We've got guys on the team who won't pass to other guys, who don't rebound or don't screen if they don't get their touches. We're just not playing together."
His coach concurred.
"He said what I said," Matta said. "In the game of basketball, I have yet to see a championship team that has one guy win it for them."