Just one thing here: Xavier Basketball

Sorry for the delay in posting.  I just got home from Philadelphia last night.  As you know by now, the Muskies lost to Temple Saturday night.  Temple was shooting lights out from the start and we didn't look ready to play in that atmosphere.  The arena was very loud and we simply looked awful.  After 11 minutes, it was 21-6 Temple.  We played them even pretty much the rest of the way but the damage was done.  Every time we had a 4-0 or 6-0 run, Temple would make a big play to end it. 

The Owls hit many shots with our defenders closely guarding them so it's hard to get upset about those.  But allowing 85 points in a game is just not Xavier defense.  The most discouraging thing to me was that we got crushed on the boards.  We were out-rebounded 38 to 27.  Temple's big men are very good, but much of rebounding revolves around being aware of where your opponents are and always hustling. 

Many are acting as if this season is totally lost.  The talent and number of upperclassmen on this team have to still give you hope that we can salvage the season.  As we all know, what really matters is what happens in March.

Go Muskies!

Well, the Muskies started off a bit slow but then poured in on the Rams.  XU only gave up 17 points in the first half.  The Muskies then scored 57 points in the 2nd half.  After several disorganized minutes of reserves from both teams running around, the Muskies won by a final of 84 to 67.  Holloway had 20 pts, 10 reb, and 6 asts.  Taylor and Lyons scored 12 and 10 points respectively off the bench (Redford got the start over Lyons again - Mack has been rewarding the hardest working players in practice, not the most talented).

This puts Xavier at 7-3 in the A10.  Temple is 7-2 and awaits the Muskies Saturday night.  This battle for first place will be at 9pm on ESPN2.  Should be a great game.  Temple has put together a nice win streak and has played well at home.  I'm looking forward to making the trip to Philly to see this one in person.  Let's take 1st place!

Go Muskies!

Rhode Island looks like a gimme game at first glance. The Rams are 5-19 overall. They started out 0-6 in the A10, but have won 2 out of their last 3 (the loss being to red hot Temple) and they have a couple nice wins. Their recent improvements were no doubt correlated with 2 mid-season transfers added to the team.

Andre Malone, who transferred in from Auburn, has scored in double-digits in 5 of the last 6 games. Jimmy Baron (yes, another son of RI coach Jim Baron) transferred in from Virginia, and has scored 25 pts twice, in wins at Boston College and at Dayton. (Fun sidebar, the Flyers were a 12.5 pt favorite at home for that game and lost by 4.  Stupid Dayton. As usual, they played XU like it was their Super Bowl and forgot about the rest of the games, losing 4 in a row since. They are making our loss to them look worse and worse...)

Orion Outerbridge is also capable of lighting it up; he scored 29 points in a win against UMass.  So offense is certainly RI's strength. They have 6 guys averaging between 9 and 13 points per game. They also out-rebound their opponents by 7.5 rebounds per game. Their biggest weakness is an extremely glaring one...they give up 75.5 pts per game, 326th in the nation! And they allow a FG% of nearly 49%, 335th in the nation! (By the way, there are 344 Division I schools.)

On paper, we should win this game, but you can't take anything for granted. Every game counts. Let's play a full 40 minutes of basketball tonight and head home with a win.

Go Muskies!

We led by 11 with 6 minutes left and everything was rolling.  But the Muskies went cold on offense and Memphis fought back into the game and took it from us at the end.

It felt like we had that game the whole way.  A really tough loss to take.

Mack started Redford over Lyons likely as a statement to let the team know that the hardest working players in practice are going to start the games.  Lyons did get significant minutes though and scored 14.  Wells had a season-high 19 points and showed glimpses of greatness that give us hope for a bright future.  Holloway didn't have a good shooting night, 3-12, but did finish with 12 points.

Robinson, Davis, and Taylor came off the bench and none of them recorded a point for XU.  That hurts.

The loss drops the Muskies to 15-8 and are now considered a bubble team by all the "experts".  None of that matters if we finish the A-10 strong.  We are 6-3 in A10 play with only Temple at 6-2 with a better record. We still control our own destiny as we play at Temple Saturday night. Next up, Rhode Island at home on Wednesday.

Go Muskies!

The Muskies finish their 3 game road trip at Memphis Saturday.  Memphis is 11-1 at home.  The one loss was against Murray State, the only undefeated team in the country.

The Tigers are one of the few teams in the country that can boast a top 15 ranking in FG% offense and FG% defense.  Pretty impressive.  Will Barton averages 18.6 pts, 8.5 rebs, and 2.6 ast per game and will likely be a huge factor in this one.  It's going to take quite a game for XU to win in this hostile environment.  Hopefully some of Muskie Nation can make the trip down to Memphis for this one.

Go Muskies!