Well, as seems to be the case in most off-seasons of late, Xavier's break from hoops started off rough this year. Semaj declared for the NBA, Justin Martin announced he will transfer out, and (erroneous) rumors swirled about Chris Mack leaving. Thankfully the Mack rumors were all garbage. Coach Mack is still here and he welcomes his top-15 rated 2014 recruiting class to join Matt Stainbrook, Dee Davis, and the Muskies this fall.

Ronnie Johnson (Purdue PG who announced he will transfer) toured ...
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With Justin Martin & Dee Davis out, the Muskies still pulled out the win Tuesday night. Was GREAT to see everyone contributing.

Stainbrook(12pts/9reb), Philmore(9pts/6reb), and STENGRAY(6pts/7reb) more than held their own against a very good Tennessee frontcourt. James Farr even came in a made some nice plays (4pts/3reb). Without Dee, Justin, and Landen Amos, Christon (18pts/2ast) & Randolph(5pts/4ast) played 39 minutes each and Myles Davis scored 13 pts in 21 minutes of the bench.

X shot 54% ...
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There's lots of time and practices before the season starts in November but here's a very, very early prediction for the starting 5 when the season starts.

Guard - JR, Dee Davis
Guard - SO, Semaj Christon
Forward - JR, Justin Martin
Forward - SR, Isaiah Philmore
Center - JR, Matt Stainbrook

Christon, Philmore, and Stainbrook were named team captains for this coming season which makes sense. I think all 3 will be big-time contributors on the floor this season. The reigning Atlantic 10 Freshman of th...
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That game was just too painful for us Muskie faithful. I can't remember a game where that many good shots were in and out. Very hard to take that loss. As the A10 tourney continues, I can't even watch any of the games. I know that Xavier is capable of beating every team in the conference which is really frustrating.

The Muskies are not NCAA tourney bound for the first time since 2005! I forgot how crappy it feels to not be in the tourney. March Madness is not fun without our Muskies.

X will alm...
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As we've seen often this year, it didn't look pretty at times but the Muskies got it done. A rough 1st half with Dee Davis in foul trouble put the Muskies behind early. But Semaj Christon and Justin Martin played big last night.

Christon - 19 pts, 5 ast, 2 stl
Martin - 16 pts, 7 reb, 2 blk
Taylor - 10 pts, 9 reb
Robinson - 10 pts in 19 min
Davis - 10 pts, 4 ast in 24 min

That's right, all 5 starters scored in double-digits; a rare feat this year. Also, Redford hit a couple 3s and Landen Amos dunked...
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It wasn't a pretty win, but a win nonetheless. The Muskies won on the road against Duquesne in front of a pretty sparse crowd. I'd guess there were no more than 3 or 4 thousand in attendance with about a third of us being X fans!

Balanced scoring was a pleasant surprise Saturday. How about these 4 guys stepping it up?!
Semaj 16 pts, 8 ast, 7 reb, 2 stl (and just 1 turnover)
Philmore 16 pts and 6 rebs, went 8-12 on FTs
Martin 15 pts on 6-9 shooting, 8 rebs
Taylor 13 pts on 5-7 shooting, 12 rebs
 
Dee...
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Wow! What a game! This rivalry never disappoints (unless you're a Dayton fan).

The streak continues. No Dayton wins over Xavier in Cincinnati since 1981.

The Muskies came out swinging and played with energy for 40 minutes. Dayton's hot 3-point shooting kept them right with us but rebounding and second chance points were the difference. XU 66  UD 61. X out-rebounded UD 36 to 18! (Dayton by the way is the #1 rebounding team in the A10, or was before last night) And how about this, the Muskies had...
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Huge win for the Muskies last night! Everybody stepped up to beat a very good Temple team by 5 points. We were up 20-12 with about 8 minutes left in the 1st half and everything was looking great. Then Temple hit a 3 and during the play, Dee Davis fell awkwardly on his wrist. He left the game and the arena to get his arm examined at a local hospital. The Muskies gave up their lead and then fought back to build one again, only to give it up again. Semaj Christon was cramping up a bit and for a ...
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Well, to say that was disappointing would be an understatement. We did play solid defense most of the night. The Muskies played tough and led at the half despite missing all their 1st half free throws! The 2nd half was horrendous though. Justin Martin with 2 quick fouls in the first 3 minutes of the game and then quick ones to start the 2nd half kept him out most of the game; he scored zero points. Cramping injuries kept our main scoring threat, Semaj Christon, out the 2nd half and kept Dee D...
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We are just hours away from the Shootout. Here's some keys to the game:
Turnovers - UC thrives on playing tough defense and forcing turnovers. The Muskies have to take care of the ball and not give away free points.
Rebounding - UC is great on the glass. The Muskies, not so much. Gotta hold our own on the boards tonight.
Free Throws - The Muskies are making more FTs than their opponents are attempting. Tonight would be a great time to continue that trend.
Helping Semaj - We know that UC is going ...
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Justin Martin is out today due to suffering a concussion at the end of the Vandy game. Jeff Robinson will start in Martin's place today.

Who's gonna step up? I'll be honest, I'm worried. Kent St can shoot the 3. They do give up 71 points a game so hopefully XU can get their offense back on track.

GET IT TOGETHER MUSKIES!

Go Muskies!

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How about them Muskies?! 6-1 record now after beating Purdue 63-57 on the road today.

Despite getting out-rebounded 38 to 26 and zero points from Jeff Robinson, the Muskies held on for the win. A big reason was not allowing Purdue to make any 3-pointers; they went 0 for 17! Semaj Christon had another big game, scoring 25 pts and adding 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals (8 for 12 shooting and 8 for 8 at the line). Justin Martin scored 12 and despite him and Christon being the only 2 to score ...
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The Muskies beat Drake 74-70, again led by Freshman Semaj Christon. The game was back and forth all day until Xavier pulled away at the end. Drake then hit several 3s at the end to lose by 4.

After a sloppy, turnover-filled first half, the Muskies turned it all around in the 2nd half. Jeff Robinson had 0 points in the 1st half but then scored 13 in the 2nd. Justin Martin had 13 pts and 8 rebs and Dee Davis scored 15. Christon though was again the star of the show; today he had 16 pts, 7 ast, a...
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Semaj Christon has already showed why many big schools were recruiting him. In just his 4th career game, he showed his star potential, scoring 23 points on 10-14 shooting, 3-3 at the line, with 6 assists and 3 rebounds. And remember, he has not been 100% due to injury in those first few games. The Muskies out-rebounded Drexel 25 to 17 and won the game 69-65. It was a great team effort as JRob scored 13 pts on 5-9 shooting, Martin had 12 (3-3 shooting and 5-6 at the line), Davis had 11 and Red...
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It wasn't pretty but a win is a win, right? The Muskies held on to win 61-59. Robert Morris came out hot shooting 3s early on but Xavier's defense improved later in the 1st half and looked better in the 2nd half.

Justin Martin scored 10 points before the 10 minute mark in the 1st half and ended up with a career-high 17 pts, thanks in large part from going 4 for 6 on 3-pointers. Dee Davis scored 15 pts on 6 of 10 shooting and Semaj Christon had 12 pts and 6 asts despite still not being 100% hea...
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