Hours before Wednesday’s tip-off to the Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament, Xavier University guard Quincy Olivari walked onto the court at Madison Square Garden, took off his headphones and "soaked the whole moment in.”
Olivari, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, would attend basketball games at Madison Square Garden with his father, Gerald. As a basketball player, there’s no better place to play than within the storied walls of Madison Square Garden. That experience is even sweeter for Olivari.
“Man, it was a great feeling,” Olivari said. “As a basketball player, this (Madison Square Garden) is one of the dreams of where you want to be and play.”
Wednesday night was Olivari’s first taste of the historic Big East Basketball Tournament and the first time stepping onto that even more historic court.
With a tournament-opening win, Olivari and the Musketeers didn’t waste this epic opportunity.
At the game's final buzzer, Xavier possessed a 76-72 lead, allowing them to move on to the second round. Olivari is a big reason why.
Going into halftime, Xavier held a 1-point lead, but it knew it was going to have to play better basketball in the second half in order to take down rival Butler. Coming back onto the court in front of a crowd of eager fans, Olivari turned into a different player than he was in the first half.
“I actually said to Quincy at halftime that he, in particular, has done that throughout the year where you could put a bad segment behind you and really get hot,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said.
Olivari, the Big East’s leading scorer for the 2024 season, had just 8 points at the break. As for the team as a whole, the Musketeers were unable to knock down a single 3-pointer in the duration of the first half. In the opening minutes of the second half, Olivari was quick to end that trend with two 3-pointers in the half's first eight minutes.
Seeing shot after shot fall through the Madison Square Garden netting only motivated Olivari more. In the clutch moments, Xavier put the ball in Olivari’s hands to make a play, and he came through.
After stealing a Butler inbound play, Olivari pranced down the sidelines and launched the ball into the lower bowl of the arena, with the clock reading 0:00.
When the final buzzer sounded, Olivari’s lifelong dream had become a reality.
Despite a loss to No. 1 UConn in the second round, Olivari has put his name in the history books for the Musketeers with an outstanding season. The fifth-year senior left his mark by becoming the first Xavier player to lead the Big East in scoring for the regular season.
