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Muskies Prosper Out West!!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
11/26/2012
I don't know about you, but I'm tickled with Xavier's 5-1 start. The Butler win is an obvious highlight so far especially considering BU's great work in the Maui Classic (wins over Marquette and North Carolina). The Pacific loss could have been averted, but some lessons can only be learned the hard way in the wake of a loss. It's just part of the process.
The Muskies reacted well with victories over Drexel and Drake in California. The Drake win showed nice growth. Isaiah Philmore made his first major contribution (27 minutes-10 points on 4 of 7 FGS and 6 rebounds). Philmore passes well and isn't afraid to throw his big body around and has shooting range. He expands the XU player rotation and supplies effective size, but not just a warm body to eat up minutes and give fouls.
Against Drake Xavier totaled 56 bench minutes (up from 42 per game) producing 14 points and 9 rebounds. Factor in the 2 points stolen from Eric Stenger by that weird replay decision and add the 3 disallowed by a phantom travel call against Brad Redford and you get some significant scoring.
This team shows an enviable knack for overcoming adversity. They've survived those off-season travails (Lyons transfer, Wells expulsion, ineligility of Reynolds and Davis). Then there was the Isaiah Philmore suspension and Semaj Chrsiton's freak elbow injury. Versus Drake, XU started the second half well, but the officials decided to practice revisionist history using replay to tag X with a shot clock violation wiping out a Muskie basket and a lead and cancelling out a foul on a key Drake player. How did Xavier respond? With an 11 point run to establish a lead they never relinquished.
It was the Semaj Christon show during that run. First he set up Justin Martin for a wide open "3," then he canned two FTs after a drive to the bucket, then he stole the ball and assisted on a Philmore lay-up with Isiah drilling the FT for a 3 point play. No wonder Semaj made the All Tourney team and won A-10 Rookie of the Week!! He averaged 19 PPG plus 7 assists in 3 games out West without forcing shots.
Semaj does not hog the spotlight. He can take over in spurts when needed but what he does best is involve teammates. He gladly relinquished the starring role to Jeff Robinson down the stretch against Drake. Jeff exploded for 13 points and 7 boards featuring 3 impressive dunks. His shooting efficiency tends to be pretty high when he releases the ball from above the rim. Five Muskies reached double figures.
Justin Martin put together a consistent strong 3 games culminating in 13 points and 9 rebounds vs Drake. His defensive job on Drake star Ben Simons before halftime when Justin had him straight up man to man was excellent. Martin created loose ball situations with his help defense and his strong post-ups draw frequent fouls. He's getting better and better!!
Dee Davis scored a super efficient 15 (4-7 FG, 6-8FTs in the final minutes) with 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Davis is 11th nationally in a hybrid stat called true shooting % which combines FG and FT shooting numbers. Martin is 21st in that category with Robinson 84th. XU is the only D1 team with 3 players in the top 100. Xavier as a team is 4th in effective FG% (60.9%). The FDU numbers skew things some but X is shooting 53.6 FG -- 41.3 from 3 and 76%FT.
More importantly the Muskies have made more FTs (93) than the opposition has attempted (73). Muskie fouls have been very low so far. X is plus 20 in assists to turnovers. But it's not all roses for sure. Depth, or lack thereof, is going to be a chronic problem, but how many Xavier teams have really had more than an 8 man rotation? Offensive rebounding has not been stellar but high shooting percentages have eased the pain there.
The defense has not produced many steals or blocked shots. Some of the halfcourt offense this team has run has been excellent with great high-low action, back door lay-ups, wide open 3 pointers. The controlled fastbreak has been very productive. And there's alot of upside.
Another big hurdle looms Saturday at Purdue (Big Ten Network, 2:30). It's the first true road game at a very tough venue -- Mackey Arena in West Lafayette. The Boilermakers are very young. They've already lost at home to Bucknell-Lehigh's perennial rival in the Patriot League. Purdue plays at Clemson Wednesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (7:15PM-ESPNU).
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