Game Thread: Xavier v Jacksonville University (11/10/2023)

[paulxu]

https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/2a1f45a0-e1cc-4202-89d7-1b7b5c27f309_1.3c18d8e111cdcd7e8a271effb6000907.jp eg?odnHeight=612&odnWidth=612&odnBg=FFFFFFVS.https://flglacrosse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/jacksonville_university_pf.jpg

CINCINNATI --- The Xavier University Musketeers, 1-0, host the Jacksonville University Dolphins, 1-0, on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at Cintas Center. XU won its opener on Monday, 77-63, over Robert Morris.

Head Coach Sean Miller has 148 wins as the Xavier head coach. With a win over Jacksonville Miller would take over sole possession of third place on Xavier's all-time wins list, a spot he now shares with the late Skip Prosser.

THE MATCHUP

XAVIER UNIVERSITY MUSKETEERS (1-0, 0-0 BIG EAST)
JACKSONVILLE UNIVERSITY DOLPHINS (1-0, 0-0 ATLANTIC SUN)
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2023 AT 6:30 P.M. ET
AT CINTAS CENTER IN CINCINNATI, OHIO
TV, RADIO & LIVE STATS

Television: FS2 with play by-play from Matt Schumacker and analysis from LaVall Jordan.
Xavier Radio: 55KRC with play-by-play from Xavier Hall of Famer Joe Sunderman ('79) and analysis from XU all-time leading scorer and Hall of Famer Byron Larkin ('88). XU broadcast is also on the Varsity Network and on SXM.

Live Stats: Media stats at Statbroadcast.com (http://Statbroadcast.com) and fan stats at GoXavier.com (http://GoXavier.com).

[American X]

XU 87 always told me that Jacksonville has really good recruits, so we should be concerned.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Jacksonville score 113 points and had 23 steals their first game, lol.

Not sure what division the school they played was from though.

[noteggs]

jacksonville score 113 points and had 23 steals their first game, lol.

Not sure what division the school they played was from though.

dii

[MHettel]

Jacksonville had 10 players that played 10 or more minutes. They averaged 63 PPG last year, so putting up 113 is kind of eye-opening. Without looking at this D2 opponent I'm assuming that they dont play some crazy uptempo style and dictated the pace while losing by 70.

Gotta assume some combination of a terrible opponent and that Jax is at least decent.

Jax ranked 319th last year in steals.....so 23 in one game is equal to 16% of their total from last year. They had 12 guys with at least one steal. Gotta be a record, right?

They were 8-30 from 3.....and scored 113. Shot 65% from 2, and had 25 FTA.

They had one 6'11 guy and one 6'9" guy, both freshmen (17pts / 16 rebs combined). Next biggest guy was 6'7", then 6'4".

Not sure if I think they are any good or not. Given the high shooting % inside the arc and high FT numbers, AND considering that the big scored only 17 out of 113 points, I gotta assume the wings and guards were just slashing to the basket relentlessly. But also, open court steals tend to lead to easy buckets....

Other weird stats from last year: They committed the 3rd fewest fouls last year, and were ALSO the least fouled team. Many of their rankings are in the 300+ range (out of 365 or so). How these guys finished 13-16 is a mystery to me.

Key points to pound these guys tonight: Utilize the size mismatch. Ball security.

[Xville]

Look smoother tonight… this team is going to be really good

[XUBison]

We are moving up the court fast.

[noteggs]

Interesting lineup now

[noteggs]

Guess this is a good time to find out tho

[noteggs]

Swain is going to be special

[noteggs]

Green needs to see a 3 go in

[noteggs]

Feel like the donkey in Shreik, “I’m all alone “

[SkyWalker]

Feel like the donkey in Shreik, “I’m all alone “

I'm here with you but it is awful quiet tonight.

[XUGRAD80]

They are laying bricks from beyond the arc but otherwise they are playing pretty good. You can see that they haven’t worked much against a zone though, lots of passing around the outside but not much else.

[Xville]

Swain and green are both going to be absolute studs. Swain is our next draft pick after Claude.

[noteggs]

I'm here with you but it is awful quiet tonight.

That’s great! Thought I would have to catch GO with 30k posts tonight!

[noteggs]

They are laying bricks from beyond the arc but otherwise they are playing pretty good. You can see that they haven’t worked much against a zone though, lots of passing around the outside but not much else.

Great point on zone. Can we shot ourself out? Not so far. Again, Green needs something to go down from 3

[XfansinKy]

Claude shoots good from deep in transition. I would like him to keep most of his long shots in transition rhythm

[Xville]

Thought we were gonna cruise tonight. Ugh

[Xville]

Well maybe we will now :)

[IM4X]

Feel like the donkey in Shreik, “I’m all alone “

Ha.

Up until the last timeout, we hadn’t looked all that good.

Too many questionably threes taken by Claude, Green and Olivari.
I’m seeing some poor shooting, poor decisions and a porous defense.

Fortunately this is happening in only the second game of the season against a team that isn’t all that good. Trying to remind myself that this is a completely new roster of players who are just beginning to build chemistry. Hoping to see them play a little bit smarter and more together each game.

Swain is looking good and I believe he’s going to be a very special player.
Green is looking a bit out of rhythm. He’s forcing some passes and shots.
Ousmane is looking tougher/ better than I had expected.

[Xville]

There we go green!

[GoMuskies]

Not great, Bob.

[SkyWalker]

With our bigs, we need a better zone offense. Too many looks from the outside,

[Xville]

Team looked good for most of the first half but the last 16-17 minutes have mostly been really woof.

[paulxu]

Claude is fun to watch.

[IM4X]

Plenty of teaching moments from tonight’s game for Sean. Good and bad play. This team is going to get better once they build some more chemistry and learn to make the smarter decisions.

I am so excited to see how high Swain’s ceiling is.

[Xville]

Looked sloppy at times and got a little too happy with the three ball but man there is a lot of potential with this team. Beat the spread and it’s nice to see green and swain get so much run.

[XUGRAD80]

X wins because they get turnovers and don’t turn the ball over and because they made free throws. They got out rebounded and shot poorly from 3 once again. When they stopped shooting them and concentrated on driving and getting fouled they did much better.

It’s a process.

[waggy]

I'm a fan of the frosh big, Ciani. Honestly can recall us having a frosh big look like he belongs from the jump like he does.

[MHettel]

Observations

1. Nzeh is not ready

2. Swain will be a sophomore before he’s a sophomore

3. Ousmane needs some discipline.

4. 3 pt selection was awful.

5. Olivari will be the closer from the line.

6. Ciani can be our Big Body for the next 4 years

7. Claude still needs to tune up the 3 pointer.

8. Gytis will win games without blowing up the box score

9. LOVED the way we played the passing lanes

A few things to clean up. Better shot selection from 3 and just some mental error by guys that should know better.

[Xville]

I'm a fan of the frosh big, Ciani. Honestly can recall us having a frosh big look like he belongs from the jump like he does.

Agreed. Not a typical freshman though. He’ll be 21 by the end of the season and played with luka on the Slovenian national team. Not bad

[XfansinKy]

I agree. I think that may be why Miller wasn’t too concerned about Ousmane in foul trouble. When Ciani comes in for Ousmane I don’t see any drop off. They’ve got a long way to go, but they’ve got a talented team.

[xukeith]

I'm a fan of the frosh big, Ciani. Honestly can recall us having a frosh big look like he belongs from the jump like he does.

That was the quietest 17 points from Swain I have ever seen. I am happy we have him as a weapon.

[X-man]

Our porous defense (can't stay in front of people), and our limited rebounding ability scare me a bit. Unless we solve those issues, we're gonna get killed in the BEast. But we do have some talented players, and I'm cautiosly optimistic that Sean will get these kinks ironed out before January.

[xavierj]

Xavier will be fine but it will take time. Green will start draining those threes he is taking and once Lazar is healthy it will be a different team. Supposedly he had been the 2nd best player on the team prior to getting hurt and he is the tallest guy on the team. He returned to practice so would expect to see him at least by the time they play in Vegas if not Monday.

[XUGRAD80]

That was the quietest 17 points from Swain I have ever seen. I am happy we have him as a weapon.

Especially those last 2 points. :)

[American X]

I do not welcome the return of the Travis Steele offense. They just clanked another three.

Swain looked fantastic in his minutes, frontrunner for the sixth man.

Olivari nailed his shots at the line, but it will be nice when he learns to finish drives and pass. Not passing to Colbert for the open three was a crime.

It will be nice when Green learns he has teammates.

Nemeiksa and Ciana look like they know what they are doing on a basketball court.

More minutes and 30 points from the bench, which is nice.

Only giving up 56 points to any team is good, but the upcoming teams will not do it to themselves like Jacksonville.

JAX wins points in the uniform game.

Need to fine tune the shot selection, turn down the unassisted threes early in the clock. We saw glimpses of the high-efficiency passing offense so successful last year.

[XUGRAD80]

On the postgame radio show, Miller said that this was the 1st time that they had faced a zone, and that Jax was not normally a zone team. I suspect that they spent very little time preparing for a zone defense in practices before this game, or in many of the pre-season practices. So this was a good thing for the team. They now have a lot of film that the team can watch and see what they did wrong, and what they did right, against a zone of the type Jax played. They did end up with a very high assist to basket ratio, just like most of the games last year, and they did play much better against the zone in the last 10 minutes of the game. So there is hope that they will be able to play well against future zones. I suspect that the next time they see a zone defense that they will play much better. That’s something that the prior administration never seemed to be able to get its teams to do. Step by step, it’s a journey. I trust Miller.

[JTG]

I do not welcome the return of the Travis Steele offense. They just clanked another three.

Swain looked fantastic in his minutes, frontrunner for the sixth man.

Olivari nailed his shots at the line, but it will be nice when he learns to finish drives and pass. Not passing to Colbert for the open three was a crime.

It will be nice when Green learns he has teammates.

Nemeiksa and Ciana look like they know what they are doing on a basketball court.

More minutes and 30 points from the bench, which is nice.

Only giving up 56 points to any team is good, but the upcoming teams will not do it to themselves like Jacksonville.

JAX wins points in the uniform game.

Need to fine tune the shot selection, turn down the unassisted threes early in the clock. We saw glimpses of the high-efficiency passing offense so successful last year.
What is the fascination with black uniforms? To me it looked like some of that f*cked up Oregon shit.

[Masterofreality]

Dailyn Swain and Trey Green are going to be stars. Without question.
And Dez looks so much like Colby on the court. Assuming the role.
We might get our ass kicked Monday, but we’ll be really good in January.

[xukeith]

When was last time X had so much talent on a roster?

[Xville]

When was last time X had so much talent on a roster?

This much? Never.

[Jumpin_Jamal_Forever]

Observations

1. Nzeh is not ready

2. Swain will be a sophomore before he’s a sophomore

3. Ousmane needs some discipline.

4. 3 pt selection was awful.

5. Olivari will be the closer from the line.

6. Ciani can be our Big Body for the next 4 years

7. Claude still needs to tune up the 3 pointer.

8. Gytis will win games without blowing up the box score

9. LOVED the way we played the passing lanes

A few things to clean up. Better shot selection from 3 and just some mental error by guys that should know better.


Accurate observations although I did not think the three-point shot selection was as bad as others. There were a few bad looks but basically am OK with the shots taken. I have a feeling that Green is being told, by the coaching staff, not to pass up open three opportunities. It just felt that way from where I sat last night. If so, he took that encouragement to heart, perhaps too much at times.
But Green clearly has the ability to create his own shot, without resorting to the three ball. In creating his own shot, he will create open looks for others. Sometime in the next few games we will see Green's coming out party and it is going to be fun to watch.

As to rest of the crew, what talent! This year, we have three guys, McKnight, Olivari and Green who can close out games at the free throw line. Swain and Dez can hit free throw as well. Agree with MOR about Green and Swain. They are far, far ahead of most freshman. And, from what I've read, if you like Ciani, you will love Djokovic. When this team gels, look out.

[X-band '01]

I thought their unis were more Baylor-esque.

The first 10 minutes and last 10 minutes were well-played with the middle 20 minutes putting the crowd to sleep. Judging by Purdue's first two games, X cannot afford a slow start or they'll find themselves down 10 points in a heartbeat.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Xavier will be fine but it will take time. Green will start draining those threes he is taking and once Lazar is healthy it will be a different team. Supposedly he had been the 2nd best player on the team prior to getting hurt and he is the tallest guy on the team. He returned to practice so would expect to see him at least by the time they play in Vegas if not Monday.

Good to hear. How long was he shut down? Would it be realistic for him to give some minutes Monday or was he out a while and needs to work back into shape I wonder?

Would love to have all weapons available for Purdon't

[XUGRAD80]

Good to hear. How long was he shut down? Would it be realistic for him to give some minutes Monday or was he out a while and needs to work back into shape I wonder?

Would love to have all weapons available for Purdon't

From what I’ve read and heard, I doubt that he will play tonight, but could be back by the weekend. At this point it’s more about how he can manage the pain.

[D-West & PO-Z]

From what I’ve read and heard, I doubt that he will play tonight, but could be back by the weekend. At this point it’s more about how he can manage the pain.

Is this due to buying more time for pain to lessen or bc he needs to work into shape still?

[XUGRAD80]

Is this due to buying more time for pain to lessen or bc he needs to work into shape still?

I don’t think they want his first college experience to be against the Perdue front line. Miller had a player at Zona have the same injury and said that player missed “five minutes”, so it’s evidently not that serious of an injury. More a pain management thing than a worry about injuring it further.

[D-West & PO-Z]

I don’t think they want his first college experience to be against the Perdue front line.

Seems a little concerning to be worried about that if he's otherwise ok to play, given that we all have high hopes he will be a top 2-3 player for us.

[xukeith]

If he could play , I bet coaches would have him in tonight. Just like all the other players, he needs a bunch of experience.