Game Thread: Xavier v. Florida (November 24, 2019) Charleston Classic

[drudy23]

Couple of things from the first 1/4 of the regular season:
1) It doesn't seem like we have many offensive sets

3) Players not named Paul Scruggs need to be more under control when attacking the basket. Naji gets out of control and the same with Q. Tyrique sometimes takes his time but others he just turns and throws the ball up right as he catches it.
4) Get Jason Carter more involved offensively. He's taken fewer shots than Q. That cannot happen. I don't know if it's lack of plays being drawn up for him or he's just being passive when he gets the ball.



Completely agree with 1 and 3 above. Too much one dimensional scoring, and terrible decision making in the process.

As for 4, I think JC felt athletically overwhelmed against Florida and it made him hesitant to shoot.

[drudy23]

Look I really hope I'm wrong about Tandy and he explodes from day 1.
But I think the Xavier nation needs to understand that while he's a good/top 100 prospect and could be great down the road, he's not Chris Paul/Steph Curry. I don't think it's unrealistic that Tandy can average around 8ppg this year, but it seems like many of you setting a little too high of expectations.

If he can consistently shoot 35-40% from three, he needs to be playing 30 minutes a game. We shall see.

And if he can reduce our turnover footprint, he should also be playing 30 minutes a game. We shall see.

[AviatorX]

Look I really hope I'm wrong about Tandy and he explodes from day 1.
But I think the Xavier nation needs to understand that while he's a good/top 100 prospect and could be great down the road, he's not Chris Paul/Steph Curry. I don't think it's unrealistic that Tandy can average around 8ppg this year, but it seems like many of you setting a little too high of expectations.

I think the best realistic outcome is he can provide change of pace minutes like the freshman #0 did for Florida last night. The list of Xavier freshman who have averaged 8 points a game is probably very short (that's about where Naji was).

[AviatorX]

If he can consistently shoot 35-40% from three, he needs to be playing 30 minutes a game. We shall see.

And if he can reduce our turnover footprint, he should also be playing 30 minutes a game. We shall see.

There's no chance he's going to play 30 minutes a game. Probably more likely than reducing the turnovers though, don't think that's exactly his strong suit.

[drudy23]

There's no chance he's going to play 30 minutes a game. Probably more likely than reducing the turnovers though, don't think that's exactly his strong suit.

If he can do those 2 things, he should be playing 30 minutes. Not saying he will do those things. The jury is still out.

But IF he provides a consistent outside threat AND takes care of the ball, I have no issue with him getting that many minutes as the season unfolds.

[GIMMFD]

If he can do those 2 things, he should be playing 30 minutes. Not saying he will do those things. The jury is still out.

But if he provides a consistent outside threat AND takes care of the ball, I have no issue with him getting that many minutes as the season unfolds.

That'd be great, it'd spell Q and Scruggs, and help keep their legs fresh, but I'm having trouble seeing where 30 minutes would come from, that'd be a big time rotation shift-up. He'd also have to blow all of our expectations out of the water to be getting 30 minutes a game, I think it's gonna take a while to transition for Kyky, he obviously has boat loads of talent, but for as long as he's been out, he's been missing valuable time to get accustomed to the speed of the game at the college level, and the learn the nuances of our offense an defense, I wouldn't be surprised to see him worked in really slowly, but if he is getting 30 minutes towards the end, I think it would mean he's much better than we all originally thought, and that'd be saying something.

[AviatorX]

If he can do those 2 things, he should be playing 30 minutes. Not saying he will do those things. The jury is still out.

But IF he provides a consistent outside threat AND takes care of the ball, I have no issue with him getting that many minutes as the season unfolds.

I think everyone agrees with this, but I also think the only reason anyone (not calling you out) thinks there's even a 1% chance he's that effective this season is because he hasn't played yet.

But hey, seems like other teams have random freshman who blow up from time to time (relative to ranking/expectation), why not Xavier?

[stammina0721]

Disappointed by the loss, but not totally unexpected. I figured it would be a very close game either way as the teams matched up so well. Florida had a lot of high expectations coming into the season and I think that when it’s all said and done, they will be near the top of the SEC and will be very much a top 10-20 team. So not a “bad” loss. X once again showed it’s never say die attitude and I think that if they had been able to get it into OT would have prevailed in the end. But I never expected an undefeated season, so I’m not shocked by the result.

On the other hand....the team across town blew a double digit lead and lost to a MAC school in OT. Of course nobody saw it because it wasn’t on ESPN national TV like the X game was! And that’s nice.

This is a very good post. Florida is a top 10 team. Losing a close one to them tells me we are definitely worthy of a ranking. Now we have a lot of improvement to do, but if we learn a few lessons from the Florida game then we are easily vying for a top 4 seed come March

[XU 87]

I thought Florida played a very good game yesterday. A bunch of those threes were contested, and they were just making them. Florida made 26 shots, but only had 8 assists. So it wasn't like they were just shredding the X defense at will. They made shots.

[GoMuskies]

I think they were pretty well shredding our defense for 25 minutes or so. They were making shots, sure, but they weren't shooting 64% because we were making them take tough shots. They had a lot of wide open threes and relatively easy shots right around the basket. Not surprisingly, when we tightened the screws on the defensive end, the deficit starting trending in the right direction.

[xudash]

My two cents:

1. Had you asked me whether or not Xavier was going to make it respectable once we were down by 17 in the second half at the time we were down by that much, I think I would honestly have said "no way." Yet Xavier got it to a point where Paul Scruggs shot a game-tying 3-point attempt at the end. The fight. The will to win is certainly there. The suffocating focus is proven and can be there, albeit seemingly in spurts.

2. Florida is very good. They woke-up. Contested or not, our defensive lapses or not, they shot over 60%. As someone else noted earlier, it was like watching Nova close their eyes and tossing the ball through the hoop at will and all day long.

3. Goodin, on the very first possession of the game, lost the ball. I simply don't get it, or him. Flashes of brilliance with mind-numbing stupidity and at the worst possible times. The two made 3's at the end were obviously huge. Let's hope that was Q finally finding his range more consistently.

4. Many of you guys are so right about the sets on offense, if you want to call them that. I didn't even play the sport and it is obvious to me that we are not a precision machine in this department. I hope Travis and the coaching staff pound away more on what is necessary to run a fluid, effective offense. He certainly demonstrated last night that he can run strong plays out of timeouts. We looked good in that department.

5. Xavier nation represented. I live in Gator country. I have received a number of high-praise comments for our fans and program. Most Florida fans are rather proud to have this victory because it led to some hardware in Charleston but because it came against a quality program that they respect.

6. Last comment and this means the world to me: when Paul missed the 3, did you notice how Naji put his arm around him and the whole team went to support him for all his contributions and that effort? Travis Steele HAS BUILT A TEAM. These guys say they love one another and it is clear that they mean it. Let them develop in the smarter play department, leading to less turnovers, better offense, and a full 40 minutes. They otherwise have the chemistry and passion to make it a great season.

I wanted the win like everyone else, but I certainly don't find this loss painful. Perhaps it will make them UNDERSTAND that every possession is valuable.

GoX!

[drudy23]

Scruggs played a great game. The last one just didn't fall. I'd give it to him 10 more times in a row in that situation.

[Xville]

Scruggs played a great game. The last one just didn't fall. I'd give it to him 10 more times in a row in that situation.

Man you could tell he was absolutely devastated when that shot did not go in...felt so bad for him. Tell you what that means to me though, come march he is going to put this team on his freaking back and will them to victory. I can see this team making a final four run if they take better care of the basketball.

[GIMMFD]

Man you could tell he was absolutely devastated when that shot did not go in...felt so bad for him. Tell you what that means to me though, come march he is going to put this team on his freaking back and will them to victory. I can see this team making a final four run if they take better care of the basketball.

Definitely, and it sucks because he carried us in that game with his performance, however, I'm happy to see that reaction. I'm glad it meant so much, and that they care so much. The picture of Naji consoling Scruggs and Tyrique was pure class. I've said it before, and I'll say it again but this team has bought in and play their asses off for each other. You can't force that type of thing, and it'll come in handy throughout the season.

[GoMuskies]

Scruggs took 22 of our 54 shots and 7 of our 16 threes. I'm sure it won't happen, but I could live with that ratio over the course of the rest of the season.

On the other hand, Scruggs committed 6 of our 18 turnovers. That's got to go down by a couple.

[XUGRAD80]

Definitely, and it sucks because he carried us in that game with his performance, however, I'm happy to see that reaction. I'm glad it meant so much, and that they care so much. The picture of Naji consoling Scruggs and Tyrique was pure class. I've said it before, and I'll say it again but this team has bought in and play their asses off for each other. You can't force that type of thing, and it'll come in handy throughout the season.

Public reps.....great post

[scoscox]

4. Many of you guys are so right about the sets on offense, if you want to call them that. I didn't even play the sport and it is obvious to me that we are not a precision machine in this department. I hope Travis and the coaching staff pound away more on what is necessary to run a fluid, effective offense. He certainly demonstrated last night that he can run strong plays out of timeouts. We looked good in that department.



We have all of 0 players currently available that are capable of coming off a screen and hitting a shot. that limits what you can run tremendously. this is the same guy that designed our offense when we were a 1 seed and a top ten offense. we are still hanging around the top 50 in offensive efficiency while shooting <30% from 3. You should appreciate that for the minor miracle it is. Travis knows what he's doing.

[xukeith]

The one thing that is consistent watching Xavier games over the past 8 years, is that offensively, players stand and watch a teammate dribble outside and try and penetrate the defense. Rarely do teammates move, because the player is solely playing one on one. That is what has always bothered me with X offense.
There can't be set plays every possession. But maybe a pg can be a QB and call out a play for diversity.

But then again, this X team is all about defense. Hope they all learned a hard lesson when playing top 30 competition. Don't bring defense, then losses will amount.

Butler (experts have them 6th-9th place in BE) look amazing against Missouri in Kansas City.
There will be 0 easy games in the BE and especially with this defensive X team.

Great to see James get in their and play solid defense and rebound.

[IM4X]

The one thing that is consistent watching Xavier games over the past 8 years, is that offensively, players stand and watch a teammate dribble outside and try and penetrate the defense. Rarely do teammates move, because the player is solely playing one on one. That is what has always bothered me with X offense.
There can't be set plays every possession. But maybe a pg can be a QB and call out a play for diversity.

But then again, this X team is all about defense. Hope they all learned a hard lesson when playing top 30 competition. Don't bring defense, then losses will amount.

Butler (experts have them 6th-9th place in BE) look amazing against Missouri in Kansas City.
There will be 0 easy games in the BE and especially with this defensive X team.

Great to see James get in their and play solid defense and rebound.

I have similar frustrations with this offense. It also drives me nuts how lackadaisical they are with their passing and movement at times. If you watch Nova’s players on offense, they are never standing around and you almost never see a player on offense just lazily put their hand up if they are being guarded and their teammate needs help.

If a Nova player is in trouble (if they picked up their dribble or are trapped) their teammate will take a few quick steps toward the ball to get separation and help make the pass easier. It may sound like common sense, but there are too many times Naji (he does it the most) Q and even Scruggs (probably does it least) just lazily stand where they are with a hand up (even though they have a guy on them) when their teammate needs help. It’s almost always going to result in a turnover or three of them before the game is over.

I too like seeing James play against Florida (wish he would have played more). I would love to see more of James in this next game. He had some nice rebounds and showed he has gotten a ton better on defense. I could see him being a legit 3 point option... not the first or second option... but still someone who could knock down one or two when needed.

[Jumpin_Jamal_Forever]

The one thing that is consistent watching Xavier games over the past 8 years, is that offensively, players stand and watch a teammate dribble outside and try and penetrate the defense. Rarely do teammates move, because the player is solely playing one on one. That is what has always bothered me with X offense.
There can't be set plays every possession. But maybe a pg can be a QB and call out a play for diversity.

But then again, this X team is all about defense. Hope they all learned a hard lesson when playing top 30 competition. Don't bring defense, then losses will amount.

Butler (experts have them 6th-9th place in BE) look amazing against Missouri in Kansas City.
There will be 0 easy games in the BE and especially with this defensive X team.

Great to see James get in their and play solid defense and rebound.

Butler looked pretty good. They shot the three very well.

But, how about that Mizzou dance team? I mean I didn't see them dance or anything but watching them bang their pom-poms together, they are, without question, the best dance team I have seen in some time. I'm pretty certain they were not in the house when Missouri came to Cintas---the group is just too impressive not to have noticed them. I, for one, am completely fine with giving Mizzou a rematch at Cintas but they must bring the dance team along.

[American X]

But, how about that Mizzou dance team? I mean I didn't see them dance or anything but watching them bang their pom-poms together, they are, without question, the best dance team I have seen in some time. I'm pretty certain they were not in the house when Missouri came to Cintas---the group is just too impressive not to have noticed them. I, for one, am completely fine with giving Mizzou a rematch at Cintas but they must bring the dance team along.

100%. I have previously stated the Missouri dance team was the highlight of last season.

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.saturdaydownsouth.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F12%2F10359303.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1

[whopper]

I don't know why but Villanova players especially the 2015-2018 team had the best basketball IQ I have seen in college basketball and my earliest memory is Lew Alcindor's sophomore year. I don't know if Wright recruits for it or teaches it but we are sadly playing in the same era and have paid the price. It is no wonder that Josh Hart, Brunson, Bridges, Paschal, Divencenzo, and Spellman are thriving in NBA. I have never seen team with so many players in the NBA at the same time. That would be a good 10 minute/practice drill by Travis as it seems that when we are in trouble our guys are never wide open.

[IM4X]

I don't know why but Villanova players especially the 2015-2018 team had the best basketball IQ I have seen in college basketball and my earliest memory is Lew Alcindor's sophomore year. I don't know if Wright recruits for it or teaches it but we are sadly playing in the same era and have paid the price. It is no wonder that Josh Hart, Brunson, Bridges, Paschal, Divencenzo, and Spellman are thriving in NBA. I have never seen team with so many players in the NBA at the same time. That would be a good 10 minute/practice drill by Travis as it seems that when we are in trouble our guys are never wide open.

Yes. It would be a good drill for this team.

X players should be hustling on offense the way they hustle on defense. Just sticking your hand up while you are being guarded doesn’t all of the sudden make you a helpful, wide open target for a teammate. This is not the only X team to have this issue. JP and Tre at times would just put their hand up when a teammate needed help (without attempting to make the slightest separation) and it lead to a number of steals for opponents.

They did eventually get a little better, though.

[xudash]

I don't know why but Villanova players especially the 2015-2018 team had the best basketball IQ I have seen in college basketball and my earliest memory is Lew Alcindor's sophomore year. I don't know if Wright recruits for it or teaches it but we are sadly playing in the same era and have paid the price. It is no wonder that Josh Hart, Brunson, Bridges, Paschal, Divencenzo, and Spellman are thriving in NBA. I have never seen team with so many players in the NBA at the same time. That would be a good 10 minute/practice drill by Travis as it seems that when we are in trouble our guys are never wide open.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Even to a novice, Xavier often looks more like a bent rim versus a smooth wheel for Nova. Intelligent decisions is part of it. Better flow and movement is big part of it. And fundamentals - passing, etc. - are a part of it.

I'm confident that we'll get better. When they ratchet it up in this area enough, the turnovers will drop. Combine that with better success behind the arc and off we'll go.

[drudy23]

I saw a graphic on one of Villanova's recent broadcasts and there were 3 things that made up the recruiting profile of what Jay Wright looks for:

1. High basketball IQ
2. Low ego with team first mentality
3. Can't exactly remember the 3rd one, but I think it was around shooting a good percentage from the field (basically shoots well, doesn't force bad shots, and doesn't play hero ball)

[AviatorX]

Nova also spent last season shooting the third most threes in the country while not being a particularly good shooting team (126th). Can you imagine some of the heartburn around here if X posted those numbers? Their offense was still elite on the season, but that creates a pretty significant game to game variance (as we witnessed when they went 10-36 in Cintas).

[GIMMFD]

Nova also spent last season shooting the third most threes in the country while not being a particularly good shooting team (126th). Can you imagine some of the heartburn around here if X posted those numbers? Their offense was still elite on the season, but that creates a pretty significant game to game variance (as we witnessed when they went 10-36 in Cintas).

Hasn't that been the qualm with Nova forever? Like before the two national championships, it was that they take so many threes, that one off night and their out of March Madness early? Ultimately, I don't think we should be jacking up a bunch of threes because we don't have the shooters to do so, I'd love to see some more Q drive and kicks, or Scruggs attacking the rim aggressively, but the overall feeling of not really moving around much on offense is right, Steele is great out of time outs (guess he really did influence Mack in that regard), but I think we could motion around more on offense, would probably help get things jump started a bit.

[xufan2020]

The one thing that is consistent watching Xavier games over the past 8 years, is that offensively, players stand and watch a teammate dribble outside and try and penetrate the defense. Rarely do teammates move, because the player is solely playing one on one. That is what has always bothered me with X offense.
There can't be set plays every possession. But maybe a pg can be a QB and call out a play for diversity.

But then again, this X team is all about defense. Hope they all learned a hard lesson when playing top 30 competition. Don't bring defense, then losses will amount.

Butler (experts have them 6th-9th place in BE) look amazing against Missouri in Kansas City.
There will be 0 easy games in the BE and especially with this defensive X team.

Great to see James get in their and play solid defense and rebound.
I'm a bit lost on what you mean here. This has certainly not been a consistent thing, especially when Xavier has had good passing and/or scoring bigs to play thru (2015,2016,2018). For what it's worth that "everyone stand around, one on one" offensive style made a run to the elite 8 in 2017. Defense has almost always been the biggest problem with Xavier teams over the last 8 years or so. Mack and Steele's similar style in offense will be just fine.

[XU 87]

The one thing that is consistent watching Xavier games over the past 8 years, is that offensively, players stand and watch a teammate dribble outside and try and penetrate the defense. Rarely do teammates move, because the player is solely playing one on one. That is what has always bothered me with X offense.


X generally had very good offensive teams under Mack, and it wasn't because guys just stood around and watched another guy go one on one. Bluiett had over 2000 points, and he wasn't really a one on one player who could create his own shot.

[sirthought]

My take on the offense is that they always stood around too much under Mack and now Steele. Not nearly enough movement. Not nearly enough ball screens for the ball handler.

I think Matt Stainbrook's time was so refreshing because he was so adept at passing out of the post, which actually made the others move a bit better. But most of our bigs have not been at that same level.

Yes, there are some screens, but it's more often trying to get a runner out from the baseline in the front court, and then if the guy catches the pass they often don't immediately shoot. Kind of useless to go through all of that without executing the attempt.

[noteggs]

Freemantle’s skills are so impressive at times! Sure the enthusiasm will continue and grow! Boy BE is going to hate him and I love it!!!

https://twitter.com/XavierMBB/status/1199440998566256640

[waggy]

Zach has been great. And so much room for more!