In the end, Xavier shot itself in foot against Pittsburgh

Xavier's Terrell Holloway was jamming after Jamel McLean dunked over Pittsburgh defenders in the first half. (Jim Davis/Globe Staff)

Losing to Pittsburgh in the NCAA East Regional semifinal wasn't necessarily what hurt Xavier. It was how it lost.

Heartbreak knocked at the Musketeers' door before. They lost to Ohio State, 78-71, in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament. That was different.

"It was probably a little easier to handle," said Musketeers coach Sean Miller, "because we played about as well as we could. A couple plays didn't go our way."

Last night was hard to swallow.

It's hard not to let four missed layups in the first four minutes of the second half eat away at you.

It's hard to swallow a 6 1/2-minute scoring drought.

It's hard to see that Xavier outrebounded Pittsburgh, 23-16, in the first half, but by the time the game was over, the Panthers were dead even on the glass.

It's hard because that's not the way Xavier won 27 games this season. The Musketeers won by doing the opposite. They outrebounded Missouri, 41-28, in a 75-71 win Nov. 20 in Puerto Rico. They held Memphis to 26.7 percent shooting in the first half of a 63-58 W three days later. Through the first half of last night's Sweet 16 matchup, the only Pitt player to make more than two shots from the floor was Sam Young, who had 11 of Pitt's 29 points.

The Musketeers team that took the floor in the second half leading, 37-29, was a gang of imposters. And that's what stings Xavier.

"That second half was just not Xavier," said junior forward Derrick Brown, who had 14 points. "And I feel like that's what hurts the most. The season we've had was about toughness and finishing what we do, and we didn't finish."

Xavier didn't score in the second half until Brown drilled a jumper at the 13:41 mark.

"We were really swimming uphill on offense trying to manufacture some points and get baskets any way we could. It really became a lid on the basket from start to finish in the second half," Miller said.

C.J. Anderson and Kenny Frease missed layups, shots they would typically make in their sleep.

"The second half, some of it was lack of execution, but I thought the lack of offense really started stemming from we just missed some point-blank layups and inside shots that you have to make in any game, but particularly in this tournament. As we missed some shots that we normally make, it became a little bit tighter for us. And I think our offense started to reflect our tightness," Miller said.

Still, even with those misses, Xavier led, 39-38, when Brown's jumper ended the drought.

"If we're honest," Miller said, "very winnable game for us."

The Musketeers were trailing, 57-54, with 15 seconds left and Terrell Holloway was at the line for two free throws. He made the first (57-55), but the second came off and gave Xavier a chance to tie. All Xavier had to do was what it had done all season: grab the miss.

Young grabbed it for Pitt instead.

"It got to a point in the second half where they got the key rebounds," said Xavier guard B.J. Raymond, who had a team-high 15 points. "We would make them miss, which is what we're good at, but also what we're good at is getting that rebound. They just came up with some key rebounds and I think that's the thing that's most hurtful to me.

"Offensively, OK, we can miss shots, but the things that got us to this point and the things that made us a good team, we didn't do."

Playing in the shadow of the mighty Big East, the discussion coming in for Xavier was shedding the midmajor label.

Coming so close, Brown said, "It just shows we can play with anybody. Coach Miller put us in a position to get out that midmajor label in our eyes. We played hard, it's just sad we had to go out the way we went out."

Miller was succinct in stating why this team should no longer have to explain itself to anyone.

He heard the question one last time as his season ended.

"If we would have won today," he said, "that would have been our third Elite Eight in six years. That's my answer."