Game Thread: Xavier v. Oakland (December 1, 2018)

[Muskie]

http://www.xavierhoops.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1866&d=1416330212&thumb=1 (http://www.xavierhoops.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1866&d=1450195293) vs 2306


Xavier Musketeers (4-3; 0-0) vs. Oakland Grizzlies (3-4, 0-0)

Time: 12:00p

Cintas Center, Cincinnati, Ohio

TV: FS1

Radio: KRC550

Live Chat (http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=XavierHoops)

Live Stats (http://statbroadcast.com/events/tournament.php?tid=699&l=1)
(http://www.sidearmstats.com/xavier/mbball/)
(http://goxavier.com/news/2018/2/26/mens-basketball-no-3-xavier-can-clinch-a-share-of-the-big-east-title-with-a-win-on-wednesday.aspx)GoXavier.com (https://goxavier.com/news/2018/11/5/mens-basketball-celebrates-opening-night-on-tuesday-vs-iupui.aspx)Preview (https://goxavier.com/news/2018/11/17/mens-basketball-prepares-for-no-9-auburn-at-maui-jim-maui-invitational.aspx) (Not Posted Yet)

The Athletic: (https://theathletic.com/632581/2018/11/06/egger-talking-xavier-hoops-with-shannon-russell-as-musketeers-tip-off-new-season/) (Not Posted Yet)

The Setting

Xavier looks to extend their win streak to three games when Oakland visits Cintas Center. Xavier is coming off its most complete performance of the season. Xavier was paced by Naji Marshall and Tyrique Jones (who turned in a double-double). Xavier committed season-low 3 turnovers.

Oakland is 0-1 on the road this season. Oakland lost to Northern Illinois 92-72. Oakland is paced by Foward Xavier Hill-Mais who has averaged 24 points through the first seven games of this season. Braden Norris is a deep threat from behind the arc. Oakland is coached by Greg Kampe who has been at Oakland for 34 seasons. Only Coach K and Coach Boheim have been at their respective schools longer. Coach Kampe has 602 career wins.
What to Watch

Xavier: Will Xavier continue its newfound defensive mindset?

Last Game:

Xavier defeated Miami (OH). (Link (https://goxavier.com/news/2018/11/28/mens-basketball-xu-miami.aspx)).

Oakland lost to Northern Illinois (Link (https://goldengrizzlies.com/news/2018/11/25/mens-basketball-norris-records-double-double-as-oakland-falls-to-northern-illinois.aspx))

[xu82]

Ahead of the game this time!

[drudy23]

Great defensive start....not

[xu82]

This is not the start you want to see.....but it does feel familiar.

[xu82]

I’m not proud....let’s foul them out!

[Mel Cooley XU'81]

As I was synching Joe and Byron to the TV, it sounded like they were speaking of Dr. Bill Daly, patron saint of modern day XU athletics, in the past tense.

If I heard correctly, peace and prayers for him, and condolences to his friends and family.

He was the Man with the Plan, circa 1978.

Straighten me out, if necessary.

[xu82]

As I was synching Joe and Byron to the TV, it sounded like they were speaking of Dr. Bill Daly, patron saint of modern day XU athletics, in the past tense.

If I heard correctly, peace and prayers for him, and condolences to his friends and family.

He was the Man with the Plan, circa 1978.

Straighten me out, if necessary.


I didn’t hear that comment....but you must be really old!


RIP if true, but I feel awkward there not knowing for sure.

[X Factor]

Back to getting torched from three. Oakland is 5-9 from three...

[MITTENMUSKIE16]

Q shooting. Painful.

[drudy23]

Pleasantly surprised with Kennedy. Honestly thought he would never see the floor.

[Mel Cooley XU'81]

I'm liking this so far.

Keep your hands up.

Rique is active and strong.

Now takes a charge.

No panic in Woodstock.

[Mel Cooley XU'81]

I dig players named "Xavier."

Football, basketball, college, pro, it don't matter.

I'll often assert XU's provenance in their monkiers!

[X Factor]

We can't keep anyone in front of us on defense.

[xu82]

We can't keep anyone in front of us on defense.

It doesn’t help that they can hit from 25’.

[X Factor]

Why does every big man we play look like Patrick Ewing?

[drudy23]

I'm still curious why Steele thought this would be a great defensive team.

[X Factor]

I'm still curious why Steele thought this would be a great defensive team.

They can be, but they don't play smart defense AT ALL!

[drudy23]

They can be, but they don't play smart defense AT ALL!

Not this year.

Hill Mais is absolutely destroying our bigs Happ style.

[X Factor]

Big dude has 22 points already!! Yep, great defense fellas.

[xu82]

I'm still curious why Steele thought this would be a great defensive team.

Well, we have held a guy from Oakland to under 25 in the first half....so far.

[X Factor]

Our defense is in CONSTANT scramble mode!!!

[whopper]

I don't know why but when Welage misses we normally get the offensive rebound. On 3 of his misses tyrique and Zach had a dunk, and Zach had 2 foul shots off the rebound for a total of 6 pts. Maybe it is because people expect him to shoot? Or spacing. Just a thought

[noteggs]

Steele has been trying to get them to talk on defense almost whole game. Communication has been bad. Especially when their Xavier player just blew past James.

[X Factor]

Great passes by Goodin...NOT.

[xu82]

A flop is not a block.

[Muskie]

We had a thread earlier this season about Hankins and Jones being on the floor at the same time. We may get to see what they look like on the bench at the same time here soon.


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[X Factor]

Little 5'9 white kid lighting us up.

[xu82]

Little 5'9 white kid lighting us up.

Opie can shoot pretty well for a middle school looking kid!

[xu82]

Apparently “touching” and “fouling” are the same thing.

[X Factor]

Opie can shoot pretty well for a middle school looking kid!

Kid is making Brad Redford look like a bad shooter. He's 17-20 from three this year!

[X Factor]

So painful watching teams rain threes and carve up our defense.

[xu82]

It’s allowable to guard the 3 point shooter, right? I don’t care if it’s from deep, because that doesn’t seem to matter!

[xu82]

Terrible spinning shot by Scruggs!

[X Factor]

Why does Goodin shoot the ball?

[drudy23]

Our defense is deplorable.

[xu82]

We NEED to make our FT’s down the stretch. Good job, Tyrique!

[xu82]

I hate refs!

[paulxu]

We can be really sloppy. Just never can seem to correct that.

[whopper]

they have only taken 6 foul shots..the big guy only 2. Our fouls have been incredibly dumb off the ball fouls if we have all these guys in foul trouble

[xu82]

Is the Oakland coach the frumpiest looking HC in college ball? He looks like someone’s grandfather doing a CYO game in his comfy clothes.

[drudy23]

Does Hill Mais want to transfer?

[X Factor]

Does Hill Mais want to transfer?

How come we can't develop a big man like that?

[IM4X]

This X team can’t make 3s...
they can’t make mid range jumpers (accept maybe Naji).
Q can’t finish at the rim or shoot at all.
The team continues to struggle to find chemistry on offense.
Bigs should be dominating this game but aren’t.

I know there has been some foul trouble but this team just look awful today coach.

[xu82]

Does Hill Mais want to transfer?

Don’t let him leave the gym.

[drudy23]

Is that UC Cumberland's brother? Kind of looks like him.

[X Factor]

Better point guard? Goodin or the kid from Oakland?

[X Factor]

Is that UC Cumberland's brother? Kind of looks like him.

Cousin

[xu82]

Better point guard? Goodin or the kid from Oakland?

I know who the better shooter is.

[drudy23]

Better point guard? Goodin or the kid from Oakland?

He can transfer too. He's only a freshman.

[drudy23]

Dagger from Welage.

A W is a W. At this point, you can't lose to Oakland. Just keep winning the OOC winnable games, which is the rest of them.

[xu82]

He can transfer too. He's only a freshman.

In high school?

[AviatorX]

Better point guard? Goodin or the kid from Oakland?

I know posts like these in game threads are your thing, but gotta draw the line somewhere. Cmon man.

[whopper]

grad transfers 32 pos and 12 rebounds and some clutch play from castin and welage. Q still way off and hope it is shoulder.

[X Factor]

I know posts like these in game threads are your thing, but gotta draw the line somewhere. Cmon man.

That 5'11 true freshman, coming in today, was averaging 9 points and 4.5 assists per game. He is shooting 75% from the field, 80% from 3, and 80% from the FT line.

Goodin came in averaging 14 points, 4.5 assists, while shooting 35% from the field, 27% from three, and 72% from the FT line. Goodin was also 1-10 from the field today. He's not playing good right now.

The kid outplayed him today.

We need Quentin to be better. He can be dynamic when he's on, but he has been very inconsistent so far this year, and his shot is not good.

[xudash]

Is Castlin proving to be the glue guy?

I think that's safe to say. Strong with his FT's and was key during a couple spots when the game was teetering a little.

[whopper]

Louisville beats Seton Hall in a squeaker..creighton up 6 early to Gonzaga 23-27..the big east will be tough this year but when I watch teams like Oakland and Evansville nobody has an easy game. I grew up with UCLA winning every game by 30 and it is nothing like that now. You must bring it, even Duke

[whopper]

not a bad rebounder either..yes a glue guy. Creighton up 11 now, krampel just 2 dunks and remember what Gonzaga did to duke. This shows what the season will be like, not for the faint hearted. College hoops is now insanely competitive.no phone it in games possible

[xu82]

Is Castlin proving to be the glue guy?

I think that's safe to say. Strong with his FT's and was key during a couple spots when the game was teetering a little.

I agree, and I marvel in how he does it in such a quiet way. VERY quiet, but there when you need him.

[AviatorX]

That 5'11 true freshman, coming in today, was averaging 9 points and 4.5 assists per game. He is shooting 75% from the field, 80% from 3, and 80% from the FT line.

Goodin came in averaging 14 points, 4.5 assists, while shooting 35% from the field, 27% from three, and 72% from the FT line. Goodin was also 1-10 from the field today. He's not playing good right now.

The kid outplayed him today.

We need Quentin to be better. He can be dynamic when he's on, but he has been very inconsistent so far this year, and his shot is not good.

Totally agree. But we know what Q can be. Would be classic if he ripped 4 threes a week from today to break out of his funk.

[X Factor]

Totally agree. But we know what Q can be. Would be classic if he ripped 4 threes a week from today to break out of his funk.

That would be amazing, and I hope he does!!

[paulxu]

I'm still waiting for Steele to be able to get to Goodin, and when he is not shooting well, get him to be a PG and create/distribute for others.

Also not good to see a lot of static time on offense, where our guys just stand around with no evidence of "a play" or anything developing.

I think we are getting better each game, and I hope that continues.

[drudy23]

Having Tre and JP made Q's life so much easier. He doesn't have that type of talent around him this year.

Q and Naji's aren't going to be the go-to guys overnight. As bad as Q has been in a couple games, Naji has been a bigger question mark to me. I didn't expect him to be Tre or JP, but he needs to be much better.

It's Q and Naji's team this year. They need to grab it. At least Scruggs has shown some signs of grabbing the reigns, but has been inconsistent.

Bottom line is they're just young and inexperienced. What the grad transfers bring in experience, they lack in the athleticism. Find a way to make the tournament and that would be a success in my book.

Reinforcements coming next year (and hopefully the next 3-4 years after that). KyKy might already be my favorite player. Get 2-3 years of top 10-20 classes and it will be real fun again.

[xu82]

Having Tre and JP made Q's life so much easier. He doesn't have that type of talent around him this year.

Q and Naji's aren't going to be the go-to guys overnight. As bad as Q has been in a couple games, Naji has been a bigger question mark to me. I didn't expect him to be Tre or JP, but he needs to be much better.

It's Q and Naji's team this year. They need to grab it. At least Scruggs has shown some signs of grabbing the reigns, but has been inconsistent.

Bottom line is they're just young and inexperienced. What the grad transfers bring in experience, they lack in the athleticism. Find a way to make the tournament and that would be a success in my book.

Reinforcements coming next year (and hopefully the next 3-4 years after that). KyKy might already be my favorite player. Get 2-3 years of top 10-20 classes and it will be real fun again.

Public reps, ‘cause, you know.....

[bobbiemcgee]

I think we are getting better each game, and I hope that continues.

Watching the Creighton and Marquette games, we got a long, long way to go.

[drudy23]

Big East play worries me. It's going to be a grind. That's why it's super important to win all of these non conference remaining games. I don't know if we can go above .500 in league play, but it may be necessary to get to 20 wins.

I could see losing to UC, but we can't drop another. If we beat UC and sweep the rest of non-con, we've put ourselves in a position to be in the hunt for a tourney bid, and that's really all you can ask for.

[paulxu]

Goodin and Marshall are shooting in the 20%'s for 3's.
If we don't get better 3 pt shooting, the BE will swallow us this year.
My hope is that these are growing pains that iron out in OOC and we're going to be ready.
Hope springs eternal.

[GIMMFD]

Goodin and Marshall are shooting in the 20%'s for 3's.
If we don't get better 3 pt shooting, the BE will swallow us this year.
My hope is that these are growing pains that iron out in OOC and we're going to be ready.
Hope springs eternal.

Yeah, hot take, we're not a good 3 point shooting team lol. We have 5 more important OOC games to which we have to grow and get better in. I'm surprised Q is even in the 20s to be honest, he's been absolutely awful from downtown, we knew there'd be an adjustment period with people having to change roles, but at the same time it's surprising to see a veteran like Q looking lost out there at times. I'm sure he'll figure it out, once he starts clicking, we're going to get miles and miles better, it'll probably make the game easier for Naji and our shooters on the wing as well, but we're not going to win many games shooting 20% from downtown, and it has to be better.

[xudash]

Watching the Creighton and Marquette games, we got a long, long way to go.

Then imagine how you would feel if you were a Villanova fan. Oh and seven lost Sal is keeping very close late in the game.

[noteggs]

When X went up 11 midway through the first Oakland went 1-3-1 zone and changed game completely. Oakland’s zone kept Q, Naji and Paul from penetrating and we had zero threat from perimeter.

[drudy23]

For what it's worth, Q has never really been able to shoot. I doubt that drastically changes.

[xu82]

When X went up 11 midway through the first Oakland went 1-3-1 zone and changed game completely. Oakland’s zone kept Q, Naji and Paul from penetrating and we had zero threat from perimeter.

Expect to see a lot more of that going forward. I mean, why not???

[noteggs]

Expect to see a lot more of that going forward. I mean, why not???

Absolutely. Ironically, Oakland wasn’t really that good at zone and just enough to slow the ball penetration. Yikes

[xukeith]

He can transfer too. He's only a freshman.

We have Ky Ky and Q. We are solid.

[X Factor]

We have Ky Ky and Q. We are solid.

Yes, can't wait for KyKy Tandy to get here next year! Kid is going to be very good.

[GIMMFD]

Yes, can't wait for KyKy Tandy to get here next year! Kid is going to be very good.

Honestly I'm excited for the entire recruiting class, very solid stuff by Steele to go out and put together that good of a class so quickly.

[XUGRAD80]

Ugly win, but it is a win. There are going to be more nights like this too. BUT....if two of the guys had hit one more 3 point shot each, X wins by 16 and nobody is crying. X is NOT a good shooting team overall, so it’s goimg to be more of these grind it out games than it’s going to be blowout wins. Just have to accept the reality of the situation. X has a bunch of slashers and not a bunch of shooters right now. They are going to struggle when the shots aren’t falling. In the meantime, they have to learn what is a good shot for them, and what is a bad shot for them, and then they have to learn to take the good shots and not the bad shots. If I’m Naji or Q I’m going to spend extra time practicing on shooting from around the foul line after flashing to that point, because if the other teams go to zone (which I suspect is going to happen) that’s where you’re going to find an open shot.

[xukeith]

As Bobby Knight said, " a critic is like a legless person telling someone how their walking is wrong."

[bleedXblue]

For this team to win and be successful this year the measuring stick is 20 wins...........You can be good at a lot of other things besides good 3 pt shooting.......we must rebound well, not turn the ball over and make over 70% of our FT's. That will keep you in a lot of games. I still don't think Steele has his rotation figured out. I really like the Jones/Hankins rotation. Scuggs is emerging as a do it all kind of guy. I love how he rebounds. Q is not himself but will get better. I am sure of that. Naji at times looks unstoppable.......Give it some time this team and coach are still trying to figure it out. There's enough talent on this team to win 20 and go dancing.

[whopper]

I think Castlin has been quietly effective and knows his limitations, and have focused on Welage while in the game on defense and rebound ing and he is not as bad as advertised. The ability to take a open shot when you absolutely need it is underrated(sometimes our guys are so busy working their way closed that they create offensive fouls and turnovers). It is scary watching the skills of St Johns, Creighton and even Providence yesterday(actually I have seen every team for a stretch and they all look good) so we will need all hands on deck to get to 500 in the Big East. Harden, Kennedy, even James must have their moments as well. We have been spoiled for the past 4 years now have to see how the other half lives.

[bleedXblue]

I think Castlin has been quietly effective and knows his limitations, and have focused on Welage while in the game on defense and rebound ing and he is not as bad as advertised. The ability to take a open shot when you absolutely need it is underrated(sometimes our guys are so busy working their way closed that they create offensive fouls and turnovers). It is scary watching the skills of St Johns, Creighton and even Providence yesterday(actually I have seen every team for a stretch and they all look good) so we will need all hands on deck to get to 500 in the Big East. Harden, Kennedy, even James must have their moments as well. We have been spoiled for the past 4 years now have to see how the other half lives.

EVERY team in the BE this year either has a bad loss or two or has struggled against inferior competition........the league is down this year as far as top level talent. The league is up for grabs this year for sure. No clear favorite IMHO. Not even Nova has been all that impressive.

[JTG]

Welage needs to be better utilized. Set up in the left or right corner or wing. Or run the baseline, with Jones setting picks, ala Reggie Miller. Then Q will have someone to pass to for open 3s. At one point yesterday Welage was on the low block...wtf. Steele recruited him, now put him in situations where he is a weapon.

[bleedXblue]

Welage needs to be better utilized. Set up in the left or right corner or wing. Or run the baseline, with Jones setting picks, ala Reggie Miller. Then Q will have someone to pass to for open 3s. At one point yesterday Welage was on the low block...wtf. Steele recruited him, now put him in situations where he is a weapon.

Welage shot 6 of our 14 threes yesterday (and made 3) in limited minutes. He needs to earn more minutes IMHO b/c he doesn't guard very well and doesn't rebound very well. He is your classic one dimensional player right now.

[Muskie]

Welage needs to be better utilized. Set up in the left or right corner or wing. Or run the baseline, with Jones setting picks, ala Reggie Miller. Then Q will have someone to pass to for open 3s. At one point yesterday Welage was on the low block...wtf. Steele recruited him, now put him in situations where he is a weapon.

Reggie could make his own shot. So far I’ve only seen Welage hit shots from a stationary position. If welage could move a little (drawing some fouls) it would open things up for the offense.


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