XAVIER vs CREIGHTON

[Xavier]

I will say I really like having both bigs out there at once. If jaylen could stay out of foul trouble

[D-West & PO-Z]

Wow this was the most winnable road game left too.

I was much more worried about this than @Butler or @Georgetown.

[kellernr]

Why are we only playing the 1 3 1 once we get in a hole?

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[coasterville95]

Right. The rest of the schedule is a murderers row.

I want to believe but I get reminded that other big east schedulers gave us the easier games early on. This month will really tell the tale.

[Lloyd Braun]

Hey look Jameer Nelson plays for Creighton

[xumuskies08]

I hate everything about this game.

[xu2010]

I know we didn't deserve this game, but I think it all hinged on that out of bounds call on Macura at 55-50. We would have had a 1 possession game at that point, but they wanted to job us.

[coasterville95]

At least it's on a slightly harder to get station :)

[D-West & PO-Z]

1/20 from 3, can't believe we are even this close.

[Xavier]

Why are we only playing the 1 3 1 once we get in a hole?

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I honestly think Mack has been really trying to get this team better at man to man so he has been using it a lot lately to start games. Its a good idea, man to man has to get better in order to make the big noise we are hoping for come March.

[sirthought]

So how many Big East players now have had their season/career best performance against Xavier?

What a gut punch.

[Xville]

Well....better bring it Saturday...schedule doesn't get any easier.

[paulxu]

I wonder if 1-20 is some sort of record.

[sirthought]

I wonder if our team just doesn't possess the lateral quickness to be really good at man to man defense?

We all know Trevon, Myles, and Farr are not the quickest players out there. Sumner is still getting up to speed. I just don't remember a team struggling this much with the main defensive approach.

[GreatWhiteNorth]

Team is stone cold. What a horrible shooting night for Bluiett and Myles. 1 of 21 in 3-pt shooting is unreal. This is too painful to watch.

[HenryMuto]

This game sucked.

[ford]

Games are not practice, Mack. Play the defense that gives you the best chance to win the game and switch up as needed. You don't let your team get down by 18 before admitting that your man defense sucks.

[Xville]

I mean Watson is a really good guard, but our guys should be embarrassed by the way they played defense against him tonight.

[THRILLHOUSE]

I just don't remember a team struggling this much with the main defensive approach.

Are we forgetting last season already?

[D-West & PO-Z]

I know we had a lot of guys suck today and don't want to overreact but we need way better play out of Ed. If there is one thing (besides out D) that scares me about an early flame out in tourney is Ed not being a consistent enough PG.

[XU 23]

Well that sucked

[xavbball]

Very disappointing loss. Hopefully we can rebound vs Butler.

[mohr5150]

I find it simply amazing we only lost by 14 when shooting 1-21 from the three. We made only one shot less than Creighton and out rebounded them by 1. After the first 5 or so minutes of the game, I thought our defense was fairly solid. We just couldn't stop the fastest and shortest guy on the court. Remember Lavender????

[xu82]

I'm not shocked by a clunker. It happens. But 1/21 shooting from the arc is hard to comprehend. That was crazy stuff! It's not like they were draped with long defenders all over them.

[xu82]

I find it simply amazing we only lost by 14 when shooting 1-21 from the three. We made only one shot less than Creighton and out rebounded them by 1. After the first 5 or so minutes of the game, I thought our defense was fairly solid. We just couldn't stop the fastest and shortest guy on the court. Remember Lavender????

If we go 6/21 it's still a bad night, but enough to win.

[xavierj]

I find it simply amazing we only lost by 14 when shooting 1-21 from the three. We made only one shot less than Creighton and out rebounded them by 1. After the first 5 or so minutes of the game, I thought our defense was fairly solid. We just couldn't stop the fastest and shortest guy on the court. Remember Lavender????

Bluiett,abell and Davis combined for 2-18 and 4 points. Yikes

[Xville]

Hopefully this clunker gets the team their edge back and we win the remaining 6 games or at least go 5-1. It won't be easy.

[mohr5150]

I thought the majority of them were fairly wide open looks. We moved the ball around well. Sumner made several stupid drives to nowhere. Many of the threes put up were nowhere near going in. I thought we'd see guys go cold from outside, but the entire team? How is that contagious?

[D-West & PO-Z]

‏@ESPNStatsInfo
Xavier shot 1-21 from 3 in its loss to Creighton, worst 3-pt FG pct in a D-1 game this season (min 20 FGA)

[Xavier_Musketeers]

The refs did make some shit calls that ruined our momentum, Farr threw to Jalen and they called it out of bounds but on the replay it was nowhere close to being out. Also, we got called for a charge and the player was no where set. Both terrible calls

[Strange Brew]

1962

:). JK. Beat Butler!

[xu82]

‏@ESPNStatsInfo
Xavier shot 1-21 from 3 in its loss to Creighton, worst 3-pt FG pct in a D-1 game this season (min 20 FGA)

Just THIS season? Not ANY season? I pity anyone who had to watch something worse than that.... What, was someone 0/30?

[LadyMuskie]

Let's hope we got that crap out of our system, and we play better the rest of the season. That was abysmal.

[mohr5150]

My concern is that this level of play is becoming more the norm. When was the last time we really played a good game? We just came off three in a row against the three worst teams in our league and could have easily lost two of them, and played like crap for the first half of the third. The Providence game wasn't a great display of basketball, either. Maybe the first Marquette game? I thought other than that stretch where we outscored them like 25-1, we didn't play all that great, either. I know that this league isn't going to allow teams to steam roll everyone....wait a minute, that's what a very good Villanova team is doing. Anyway, I have been and continue to be concerned that this team isn't as good as we all may have thought they were. That's not me jumping off the ledge, I'm just looking at how we've squeaked by some easy games lately then came crashing back to earth tonight.

[ford]

Obviously our shooting sucked, but sometimes things snowball. However, it is on the coach to prevent things from snowballing. I love Mack and think he's a great coach who knows exactly what he's doing. That said, I was ok with him using the last two games to work on man defense against shitty teams, but tonight was not a game where you can get away with that. No reason not to mix in some 1-3-1 to stop the bleeding and settle our guys down when we were getting blown out early. Even the second half, he waited 5 minutes for them to build the lead to 18 before switching! I think Mack has been trying to make a point these last few games. It may have cost us a seed tonight. I hope it was worth it in the long run.

[sgarcia]

Obviously our shooting sucked, but sometimes things snowball. However, it is on the coach to prevent things from snowballing. I love Mack and think he's a great coach who knows exactly what he's doing. That said, I was ok with him using the last two games to work on man defense against shitty teams, but tonight was not a game where you can get away with that. No reason not to mix in some 1-3-1 to stop the bleeding and settle our guys down when we were getting blown out early. Even the second half, he waited 5 minutes for them to build the lead to 18 before switching! I think Mack has been trying to make a point these last few games. It may have cost us a seed tonight. I hope it was worth it in the long run.

Or just stop switching screens at the top of the key and ended up with terrible mismatches. This is a major defeciency of our man 2 man. Fight through screens and that should instantly make us better defensively

[Xville]

My concern is that this level of play is becoming more the norm. When was the last time we really played a good game? We just came off three in a row against the three worst teams in our league and could have easily lost two of them, and played like crap for the first half of the third. The Providence game wasn't a great display of basketball, either. Maybe the first Marquette game? I thought other than that stretch where we outscored them like 25-1, we didn't play all that great, either. I know that this league isn't going to allow teams to steam roll everyone....wait a minute, that's what a very good Villanova team is doing. Anyway, I have been and continue to be concerned that this team isn't as good as we all may have thought they were. That's not me jumping off the ledge, I'm just looking at how we've squeaked by some easy games lately then came crashing back to earth tonight.

I pretty much agree with all of this. We looked so good at the beginning of the year....final four good. We haven't looked that way in quite a long time. I hope the switch turns back on saturday.

[ford]

My concern is that this level of play is becoming more the norm. When was the last time we really played a good game? We just came off three in a row against the three worst teams in our league and could have easily lost two of them, and played like crap for the first half of the third. The Providence game wasn't a great display of basketball, either. Maybe the first Marquette game? I thought other than that stretch where we outscored them like 25-1, we didn't play all that great, either. Common thread, lack of 1-3-1.

[GoMuskies]

Let's hope we got that crap out of our system, and we play better the rest of the season. That was abysmal.

That's three straight performances like that unfortunately. It's officially a trend.

[GoMuskies]

It's pretty disturbing to lose to Creighton on a night when they shoot 7-30 from three.

[LadyMuskie]

That's three straight performances like that unfortunately. It's officially a trend.

Agree. But tonight was by far the worst of it.

I've got to come up with something. I'm hanging by a thread here, not listening to that little voice saying "maybe we peaked too soon."

[GoMuskies]

Positives from tonight: Jalen Reynolds wasn't completely terrible the whole night. JP was pretty good other than his outside shooting. The 1-3-1 was nice...after we were down 18. That about covers it.

I guess Farr actually had a pretty nice game, too. And Austin gave some energy.

Really, the starting five was just atrocious as a group.

[Cheesehead]

Jalen needs to be told not to shoot another three this season unless he is the last option and we are down by 2 points with 3 seconds left in the national championship game.

[OTRMUSKIE]

We lost to a team that is 15-9 on the road n front of 17k fans. Also how many other teams have lost on the road this year? This game means nothing other than we lost to a team on the road and shot awful. We are now 9-2 away from tas. Beat Butler and this game is forgotten. Lose to Butler then we have an issue. I still think X loses 6 games going into the tourney. Tells you how hard it is to get that one seed.

[GoMuskies]

He should also not follow that up by missing a hook shot by five feet.

[GoMuskies]

We lost to a team that is 15-9 on the road n front of 17k fans.

The "how" was kind of disturbing as is this team's trend line. Our KenPom ratings haven't been tanking for no reason.

[LadyMuskie]

We lost to a team that is 15-9 on the road n front of 17k fans. Also how many other teams have lost on the road this year? This game means nothing other than we lost to a team on the road and shot awful. We are now 9-2 away from tas. Beat Butler and this game is forgotten. Lose to Butler then we have an issue. I still think X loses 6 games going into the tourney. Tells you how hard it is to get that one seed.

You're right inasmuch as there's no reason to panic or throw in the towel. But we stunk the place up tonight. There were really no bright spots considering we're supposed to be the #5 team in the land. Then add to that the fact that we haven't looked completely solid in the last several games, and it's disconcerting.

I think we'll be fine, and I'm sticking with the fact that this is the kick in the ass we needed to get things back where they need to be heading in to March. But, it wouldn't completely surprise me to see us lose out if we can't fix whatever is ailing us.

[Xavier_Musketeers]

That was the first game that we didn't score atleast 60

[GoMuskies]

Starters: 9-46 from the field.

Starters not named Jalen (who was a "white hot" 5-15): 4-31 for a sizzling 12.9%.

[xavierj]

Starters: 9-46 from the field.

Starters not named Jalen (who was a "white hot" 5-15): 4-31 for a sizzling 12.9%.

Crazy they were still in it with 5 to play. How did they not lose by 50?

[GoMuskies]

Crazy they were still in it with 5 to play. How did they not lose by 50?

Some of the starters were told to find the bench in favor of some guys who were productive. Unfortunately even Macura, who was much better than every other perimeter player was also not able to shoot particularly well.

[kyxu]

My concern is that this level of play is becoming more the norm. When was the last time we really played a good game? We just came off three in a row against the three worst teams in our league and could have easily lost two of them, and played like crap for the first half of the third. The Providence game wasn't a great display of basketball, either. Maybe the first Marquette game? I thought other than that stretch where we outscored them like 25-1, we didn't play all that great, either. I know that this league isn't going to allow teams to steam roll everyone....wait a minute, that's what a very good Villanova team is doing. Anyway, I have been and continue to be concerned that this team isn't as good as we all may have thought they were. That's not me jumping off the ledge, I'm just looking at how we've squeaked by some easy games lately then came crashing back to earth tonight.

Let's try not to go nuts here. Every single Xavier season that had some measure of success had a point in the season where we just flat sucked for several games. It happens. When we started off the season at 12-0, everyone here had to know that it's not as if we would continue on an upward trajectory until we were blowing out everyone by 60 by the end of February. These guys aren't machines. They hit walls, have bad games, whatever.

A season is a fucking lifetime, which is why the team (or fans) can't get too low now just as it shouldn't get too high after starting 12-0. We're 21 and freaking 3. Relax.

[GoMuskies]

KenPom fell to 22 after tonight.

Another interesting thing looking at the box score: Remy played 11 minutes. And I don't remember any of those minutes being after we went zone (i.e. our best stretches of basketball ). He's got to get it together, or this is going to be the rule for him rather than the exception.

[GreatWhiteNorth]

X must have set some kind of record for shooting 1-21 from 3-pt.

[GoMuskies]

Looked at the play by play, and Remy went the bench with 15:49 to play and Xavier down 47-29. He did not return.

[letskeepitreal]

Boy that game sucked. Thought we brought out the 1-3-1 out too late and didn't mix it up so they adjusted. Thought Austin brought some defensive intensity but then didn't seem to get time down the stretch when we were unable to stop Watson. He just chewed us up. Not to panic yet as we are 21-3 but I thought we'd be going 5-2 or maybe 4-3 down the stretch but we'd better get our mojo back.

[section202jay]

Stopping by to wish you good luck until we play you again. It was a tough, physical game. Referees really influenced the game I felt. My voice is gone. Hope any X fans that were in attendance reasonably enjoyed themselves and had positive experiences.

[XUFan09]

Stopping by to wish you good luck until we play you again. It was a tough, physical game. Referees really influenced the game I felt. My voice is gone. Hope any X fans that were in attendance reasonably enjoyed themselves and had positive experiences.

Well, frankly, there was a lot of fouling.

[waggy]

KenPom fell to 22 after tonight.



If I'm not mistaken though, the defensive efficiency actually rose quite a bit. Which is kinda amazing after watching Watson continually burn us.

[markchal]

We really havent played well in the BE, we've mainly been coasting against bad teams. Maybe SH, Butler and Providence, but I'm not sure we've played a complete game outside those three.

I keep thinking these sub par performances were gonna be wake up calls, but we seem to be flat to start every game. For as important as this stretch of games is, we could not have started it worse.

[xukeith]

Just wait until we play AT Georgetown, AT SH, and AT Butler.

Tough times ahead. X over past 3 games has lost it's spark.

[bleedXblue]

You guys act like we're infallible and should play well every game. We were due for a bad stretch and I think we're right in the middle of it. We want to be playing our best ball in March anyway. 2 seed, 3 seed or 4 seed.........doesn't matter.

[X-band '01]

Very tough to win when you do everything wrong in the first 8 minutes of the ballgame. I haven't seen Mack look that PO'd all season. Creighton hits a few early shots, Xavier panicked, and began giving up uncontested 3s to Creighton. And then the same script applied at the beginning of the 2nd half.

They'd better not begin like that at Butler come Saturday.

[Lamont Sanford]

X must have set some kind of record for shooting 1-21 from 3-pt.

You bet it did. According to ESPN, that was the lowest recorded 3 point shooting performance (4.8%) in D1 hoops this season (min 20 attempts). Pa-fucking-thetic.

[paulxu]

One thing I thought I would see in the second half was an attempt to get Gates an open 3.
If he's the second best shooter on the team, and everybody else was tanking from out there, I would have liked to have seen him hoist up a few.
Couldn't have hurt us, that's for sure.

[Cheesehead]

I also though 1-3-1 was brought out too late. Also, when a guy is going for 32 and his career high, why not try the box and one on him? He almost had half of their points.

Oh well, burn the tape and be ready to play from the tip on Saturday. If Remy is not giving us anything then it's time for Macura to start and bring Remy off the bench.

[GoMuskies]

Who would the "1" have been in the box and 1? I didn't see anyone capable of guarding him on our roster. Maybe Austin?

[XUMIOH12]

Didnt read any of this thread but a couple of my thoughts;
First half and second half went almost exactly the same way. Creighton knocking down shots and scoring a bunch of points followed by a Xavier run cutting it to single digits, then creighton closing out the half strong.

I thought we should have gone to the zone in the first half once the lead got under 10. And definitely earlier than we did in the second half.
Even with that, aside from the barrage of 3s to start the game, the defense wasn't really all that bad. Only gave up 70 points, with a few of them being at the very end of the game. Creighton was taking advantage of us switching every screen by getting Watson the ball in a mismatch almost every time.

It's tough to win when you make 1/21 3s. We still got back in to the game and had a chance. When it was 55-50 and Macura got the steal for what would have been a layup but stepped out of bounds, i thought if we scored there we were going to have all the momentum and a good shot to actually take the lead.

Just couldn't climb out of that early 17 point hole.

[Cheesehead]

Who would the "1" have been in the box and 1? I didn't see anyone capable of guarding him on our roster. Maybe Austin?

Remy, he is supposedly our best defender and if he can't score he might as well play defense. I would like to see team at least try some things. It could not have been much worse

[GoMuskies]

I don't think Remy could even pretend to guard Watson.

[boozehound]

I don't think Remy could even pretend to guard Watson.

I sort of agree. I haven't seen a lot from him to suggest that he is the lock down defender that many think he is. Mack seems to disagree though, and he knows a lot more than I do.

[GoMuskies]

Mack didn't really disagree last night. Remy didn't play the last 16 minutes.

[GoMuskies]

I''m sure Creighton will get it somewhat figured out before they visit Cintas, but I don't think I've seen a team more unprepared and clueless against the 1-3-1. Those guys had no idea what to do with the zone once it was sprung on them.

[ThrowDownDBrown]

You guys act like we're infallible and should play well every game. We were due for a bad stretch and I think we're right in the middle of it. We want to be playing our best ball in March anyway. 2 seed, 3 seed or 4 seed.........doesn't matter.

I hate when people say this, yes it very much does matter. I would like us to have the easiest path possible and that means getting the highest seed possible.

[LadyMuskie]

You guys act like we're infallible and should play well every game. We were due for a bad stretch and I think we're right in the middle of it. We want to be playing our best ball in March anyway. 2 seed, 3 seed or 4 seed.........doesn't matter.

No. Seeding matters. I'm not sure how you can think otherwise.

[Xville]

Outside of Jalen, the rest of our starting five was 4-31. Yikes.

[GoMuskies]

Outside of Jalen


White-hot 33% shooting Jalen

[Xville]

No. Seeding matters. I'm not sure how you can think otherwise.

I think it does, and it doesn't. Much more important to me is who else is in your region (for future matchups), and what region you get placed in. Yes being a #1 seed basically assures you of getting to the second round, but Xavier has much bigger goals than that. Just saying I would rather be a #4 playing in the Midwest or South Region with teams like Iowa, Texas A&M and Oregon, rather than being a #1 with teams like Michigan State and Kansas.

[xubrew]

I don't think seeding matters all that much from top to bottom, but I definitely think it matters at the top and the bottom.

If you're a #1 or a #2 seed, your chances of making the Sweet Sixteen are probably well above 70%. You get to play a weak team in the round of 64, and a team that's outside the top 25 in the round of 32. Think about that. Not having to beat a top 25 team away from home to get to the Sweet Sixteen is a huge advantage. Xavier didn't have to beat a top 25 team last year, but that was due to an upset. For the #1 and #2 seeds, they will never have to.

Also, the #14 seeds are usually TONS better than the #15 and #16 seeds. They're not as good as the #3 seeds, but they're good enough to beat them on a given day. The 15 and 16 seeds almost never are. It has happened, but it's happened to the tune of six times in over 30 years, and one of those games involved Frank Haith so I don't know that should count. A #16 seed has never done it.

So, I think seeding matters at the top. I also think it matters at the bottom. Earning a #13 or a #14 is tons better than earning a #15 because those teams actually have a chance to win more than once every five years. In fact it's rare that at least one #13 or #14 doesn't win at least one game.

In the middle, I think seeding is far less important, unless wearing white is important. The 7-10 teams are all pretty much the same. There isn't really that much difference between 6-11, really.

But, seeding matters. Getting to play a team that's outside the top 100 in one game, and following that up with a team that's outside the top 25 in the second game is a HUGE advantage. And, it's an advantage that quite frankly is well earned.

[THRILLHOUSE]

I don't think seeding matters all that much from top to bottom, but I definitely think it matters at the top and the bottom.

If you're a #1 or a #2 seed, your chances of making the Sweet Sixteen are probably well above 70%. You get to play a weak team in the round of 64, and a team that's outside the top 25 in the round of 32. Think about that. Not having to beat a top 25 team away from home to get to the Sweet Sixteen is a huge advantage. Xavier didn't have to beat a top 25 team last year, but that was due to an upset. For the #1 and #2 seeds, they will never have to.

Also, the #14 seeds are usually TONS better than the #15 and #16 seeds. They're not as good as the #3 seeds, but they're good enough to beat them on a given day. The 15 and 16 seeds almost never are. It has happened, but it's happened to the tune of six times in over 30 years, and one of those games involved Frank Haith so I don't know that should count. A #16 seed has never done it.

So, I think seeding matters at the top. I also think it matters at the bottom. Earning a #13 or a #14 is tons better than earning a #15 because those teams actually have a chance to win more than once every five years. In fact it's rare that at least one #13 or #14 doesn't win at least one game.

In the middle, I think seeding is far less important, unless wearing white is important. The 7-10 teams are all pretty much the same. There isn't really that much difference between 6-11, really.

But, seeding matters. Getting to play a team that's outside the top 100 in one game, and following that up with a team that's outside the top 25 in the second game is a HUGE advantage. And, it's an advantage that quite frankly is well earned.

I basically agree with this.

This has been such an odd season though, wouldn't be surprised if this year turns out like 2011 where no #1 or #2 seeds made the final four and you had and 8 and 11 seed make it.

[GoMuskies]

I predict that thousands of people will make morons of themselves claiming that Villanova is the #1 seed that will finally lose to a #16 seed! Which is way down from the hundreds of thousands of people who made the same moronic claim about Wichita State and St. Joe's.

Since we're going down this road, the only time in recent memory I thought it was in the realm of possibility that a #1 would go down to a #16 is when Memphis as a #1 seed faced Oral Roberts. Oral Roberts had no business being a 16 seed that year, but they didn't play particularly well and got beaten fairly easily by Memphis.

[xubrew]

I predict that thousands of people will make morons of themselves claiming that Villanova is the #1 seed that will finally lose to a #16 seed! Which is way down from the hundreds of thousands of people who made the same moronic claim about Wichita State and St. Joe's.

Since we're going down this road, the only time in recent memory I thought it was in the realm of possibility that a #1 would go down to a #16 is when Memphis as a #1 seed faced Oral Roberts. Oral Roberts had no business being a 16 seed that year, but they didn't play particularly well and got beaten fairly easily by Memphis.

I know this isn't always the case now, especially with the First Four format that now exists, but it's still the case a lot of the time. The thing about the #16 seeds is that they're typically from weak conferences, but they're also typically not even the best team from that weak conference. They just won the conference tournament and got the auto bid. The #15 seeds are typically from weak leagues as well, but at least they're usually the best teams in those leagues.

A #1 v #16 game would be a buy game that no one is interested in if it were played during the regular season. If the tournament were to double in size and have 128 teams, then the current #16 seeds would be the #32 seeds in that new format. They're way below the rest of the field. They really don't have much of a chance. It's rare that a #16 seed even gets a second half lead in those games. I think that some day it will happen. The law of averages says it has to. But in looking at it this year we're looking at Hampton, Texas Southern, Wagner, and teams like that, and that's in a best case scenario.

Ummmm.....no. Ain't gonna happen.

[RealDeal]

Well that was a bag over the head punch to the face kind of game. I just hope the team can get back to the kind of play they exhibited earlier in the season. It starts at Butler.

[toledodan]

I predict that thousands of people will make morons of themselves claiming that Villanova is the #1 seed that will finally lose to a #16 seed! Which is way down from the hundreds of thousands of people who made the same moronic claim about Wichita State and St. Joe's.

Since we're going down this road, the only time in recent memory I thought it was in the realm of possibility that a #1 would go down to a #16 is when Memphis as a #1 seed faced Oral Roberts. Oral Roberts had no business being a 16 seed that year, but they didn't play particularly well and got beaten fairly easily by Memphis.

only dayton fans will be that dumb

[maketewahXalum]

Well that was a bag over the head punch to the face kind of game. I just hope the team can get back to the kind of play they exhibited earlier in the season. It starts at Butler.


https://youtu.be/TQXuazYI_YU?t=49

[xu82]

I'm not crushed by a single loss. The 3 point shooting was stupefying. I am concerned by the general trend of play, but a little lull is OK as long as we find a way to get our mojo back. It's hard to "peak" for an entire season - better firing on all cylinders at the end than the beginning!

[scoscox]

Just watching highlights, didn't see the game, but the defense on watson was pathetic. I can understand losing him a little bit up top, but to get to the rim with ease and be uncontested half the time? That's unacceptable. A solid 7 or 8 of his shots from the highlights alone could and should have been swatted. He's 5'10' you can't let that fly in the paint. That kid had no business scoring in the lane.

[RealDeal]

https://youtu.be/TQXuazYI_YU?t=49

Exactly!

[Masterofreality]

HI, first chance I've had to post since that debacle last night, but my thoughts:

-Jalen Reynolds scored 17 points but was 5-15 from the field. WTF? Many of those were close in but it looked like he had no clue all night long. Obviously CMack knew that we had mismatches inside, but Jalen kept messing up. I honestly don't know what he's doing sometimes and forget him ever passing back out of the post. Once he gets it in there he's putting a shot up whether he's off balance or not. Bad job by him last night.
-I made a comment on here as I watched the pre-game warm ups that the team looked loose and were having fun. I thought at the time that was a positive, but obviously not. I guess it meant that they weren't focused and locked in, and they paid big time for it. I don't know if it was shown on the broadcast, but CMack took a time out just before one of the early TV time outs and absolutely lit into the team. I don't remember him being so hopping mad in the last 3 years. We were being outscrapped, out worked and out hustled. It was just a poor effort, especially early.
-JP Macura's entire family must have came down from Minnesota and took all the available seats right behind the bench. Too bad they had to see such a sheetshow.
-Our man defense is horrific. Really, horrific. Ok, I can believe that both Marquette and St. John's shot better than they usually would against us, but Creighton did not....and we still lost. Creighton only shot 7-30 from 3...and we still lost by 14. It wasn't because we were contesting those 3's.
-I know this is second guessing, but why CMack continued to play a totally ineffective man defense until we were 18 points down with about 13 minutes left I have no idea. After we went zone, Creighton went the next 14 possessions- and only had 1 field goal and 3 foul shots. We were down 47-29 when we went zone and we got it back to 52-46. The only guy who could score was Watson, but why we ever left him unattended...even in the zone, I have no idea.
-The announced attendance was 17,017. I don't think there were than many there, although it was an incredibly late arriving crowd. In actuality, there was nothing that should have been intimidating there. We just played lousy.
-I have nothing to say about shooting 1-21 from 3 point range. We couldn't hit the broadside of a Nebraska corn silo. Myles and Remy didn't score at all and JP only had 7 with Tre only having 4. Jimmy Farr was OK and Ed was adequate, although his charge when we had a chance to cut it to 4 was a bad, bad play.
-Nothing about Creighton is impressive. They do play in a nice, albeit big, arena and Omaha is a nice town, but I have no itching desire to show up again. You really can't lend any vocal support from the nosebleeds they put you in and they don't give the opposition fans hardly anything close to the bench. Other than JP's family and Tom Sedler there were no seats for XU folks close to the court..and I got the seats through Xavier's allotment. We were stuck 3 rows from the top.

If this one was our "One Game a Year where Everything Goes Wrong" so be it. I hope that our defense doesn't continue down the slide though. Gotta be worried after 3 bad defensive performances in a row. Butler will be loaded for bear..and we'd better be awake and locked in Saturday.

Yuck.

[LA Muskie]

Jalen wasn't perfect, but he was far from our problem. He had a rough 1st half in particular, but he almost single-handedly kept us in the game in the 2nd. I certainly wouldn't chalk it up as a great game, but frankly he was probably the second best of the historically bad for us yesterday (Farr getting the nod as our best performer of the night).

While we certainly weren't playing plus-defense, we actually had pretty solid defensive efficiency numbers. And overall the difference between our man defense (about 1.00 ppp) and the 1-3-1 zone (about 0.90 ppp) was negligible. It was our offense that betrayed us last night.

From my TV it sounded like a pretty daunting place to play. Especially the first 12 minutes or so.

PS: This doesn't mean that I disagree with your underlying premise that we need to kick our defense back into high gear. We definitely do. I'm not convinced that our relatively respectable defensive efficiency is attributable to anything but them (also) having a bad shooting night--albeit not as bad as ours.

[XUFan09]

Jalen wasn't perfect, but he was far from our problem. He had a rough 1st half in particular, but he almost single-handedly kept us in the game in the 2nd. I certainly wouldn't chalk it up as a great game, but frankly he was probably the second best of the historically bad for us yesterday (Farr getting the nod as our best performer of the night).

While we certainly weren't playing plus-defense, we actually had pretty solid defensive efficiency numbers. And overall the difference between our man defense (about 1.00 ppp) and the 1-3-1 zone (about 0.90 ppp) was negligible. It was our offense that betrayed us last night.

From my TV it sounded like a pretty daunting place to play. Especially the first 12 minutes or so.

PS: This doesn't mean that I disagree with your underlying premise that we need to kick our defense back into high gear. We definitely do. I'm not convinced that our relatively respectable defensive efficiency is attributable to anything but them (also) having a bad shooting night--albeit not as bad as ours.

What he said.

[GoMuskies]

-Nothing about Creighton is impressive. They do play in a nice, albeit big, arena


Gotta disagree with you there. I assume you had essentially the same seats I had, and they suck, but the arena is fantastic. And of course they have by far the best college baseball stadium in the country.

[xu82]

Confidence is a funny and under-rated thing. I kept thinking if we could only get a shot to fall.....and it kept not happening. Early defense and long range shooting were the main troubles. The defense got better, and we learned to go inside. The few 3's we took late were painful.....we were due for ONE, right? Trevon had one go about 2/3 of the way in, but it wasn't meant to be. Just ugh. Get the swag back gentlemen. There's no lack of talent, just confidence. Butler is a new game.

Last night our 3 point shooting and Jalen's FT's flip flopped from the game before. It gets between the ears.

[waggy]

I don't blame Mack for being disappointed with Jalen. They went to him for the first two plays of the game to set the tone, and he didn't get the job done either time. They went to him again to start the 2nd half, and again he didn't finish. That one in particular appeared to be a fairly lazy effort.

Overall I just hated how the team seemed to be rushed. They didn't play with poise imho.

[Masterofreality]

Gotta disagree with you there. I assume you had essentially the same seats I had, and they suck, but the arena is fantastic. And of course they have by far the best college baseball stadium in the country.

I was talking about Creighton's team, not being impressive. And the arena is nice, but it would certainly not be NBA quality, such as the Q.
Maybe I'm just spoiled as to knowing how nice publically built arenas are now- especially in cities that have NBA or NHL franchises.
Again. I said "nice, albeit big arena" . I stand by my statement.

I do like the City of Omaha slogan though: "Omaha.....We don't Coast"

[X-band '01]

We did get to see Mack in living color going Frank Martin on the team last night.