Thoughts:
Defensively we really pushed xavier out wide on the court in the first half. they could not get it inside and forced a lot of long shots. that little ginger kid redford hit a few wide open 3's but that was it. sutton and energy combined to shut down crawford. JHR had some decent minutes and kelly/jamsam denied love and frease not only the ball, but also the glass. in the 2nd half xavier decided to push it more and drive inside. most of the game the only way xavier could really score was in transition and very early in the shot clock. we went zone halfway through the 2nd half to try and stop their penetration and it worked ok. xavier certainly didn't shoot us out of it. we did foul a lot and it cost us some in rebounding though. xavier never threatened, we lead by DD the whole 2nd half.
Offensively we destroyed them inside with kelly/jamsam, we are just more athletic than love/frease. short jumpers, putbacks, getting to the line, xavier really struggled to defend the paint. our gaurds were able to pass the ball fairly cleanly to the paint. struggled outside, pullen/clems had 2 pts at the half. irving hit a few deep shots but that was it from the perim at the half. 2nd half we slowed it up and just kept going to the foul line.
overall an ugly game but u have to like the adv down low with the bodies and athleticism we can throw at them. assume pullen/clems can play better this time around and hopefully sutton can duplicate his effort defensively. I feel pretty good about this game, i dont see where xavier has a big edge to exploit. they'd just have to shoot lights out and we miss and don't bring it energy wise. EMAW.
