Takeaways from Xavier's Sweet 16 loss to Arizona

LOS ANGELES – After Arizona's 68-60 victory was in the books, friends Chris Mack and Sean Miller met at Staples Center's half-court for the post-game coaches' handshake and a quick exchange.

"I just told him to win it all," Mack said. "Just said, 'You've got a great team,' but he already knew that so that was it.'"

Miller's second-seeded Wildcats (34-3) claimed a 14th straight victory and outlasted the Musketeers (23-14) in a first-ever hard court meeting. The former Xavier coach and associate head coach said it was a taxing game because of his ties to the Musketeers' program.

"This tournament is difficult in and of itself to prepare (for) and know that if you lose, you're done," Miller said. "But if you play against the people you've worked with for long periods of time and you've been in the trenches with, it's hard when they're on the other side."

Miller maps out Matt Stainbrook strategy

One of Miller's plans was to make sure Stainbrook didn't provide 10 to 20 points to his teammates via his strong passing skills.

"They do a great job of throwing it into him and he's such a terrific passer that all of a sudden the floodgates open and they get the ball moving, and the reason it started to move was because you had to help on Stainbrook. And now it's both – he's not only scoring inside but their perimeter attack is thriving because of him," Miller said.

He said Arizona gave up one 3-point shot because of help on Stainbrook but otherwise tried to let Kaleb Tarczewski play the center one-on-one. Miller mixed in traps when Tarczewski had four fouls.

"He's a great basketball player," Tarczewski said. "His size – he does a great job of using it."

Stainbrook's double-double (17 points, 10 rebounds) was his fourth this season, 10th at Xavier and 19th as a college player.

Brandon Randolph says future unknown

Twitter talk gained traction near the season's end about a potential transfer by Brandon Randolph but the sophomore guard said nothing has been decided.

"I'm going to talk to Coach Mack and go from there. Right now I'm just up in the air about it," Randolph said.

Randolph seemed to be the heir apparent at point guard early in the season but eventually lost the role to freshman Larry Austin Jr. Randolph played in 23 games and averaged fewer minutes and points than his freshman campaign.

"It's been a great year for me whether I'm playing or not. I've had a great time with these dudes. I consider every one of them my brother," Randolph said. "It's going to be hard but it's just something I really have to think about."

Tough ending for Trevon Bluiett

It was a difficult finish for freshman Trevon Bluiett, who went 1-for-6 and missed all four of his 3-point attempts. The forward finished with two points in 23 minutes.

Bluiett averaged double-figure scoring in Xavier's first six games and 2.8 points in the last four outings.

"(He's) probably battling a few mental demons. He's really hard on himself," Mack said.

"Tre's going to be in our program for a little while and he's going to make huge strides over the offseason. But we went on a foreign trip (in the summer) and part of what you gain on the front end I was really hesitant because I think sometimes you can lose some stuff on the back end. The season becomes two seasons for our freshmen."

Bluiett averaged a team-second 11 points in his debut season and was named to the All-Big East Rookie Team.