Nova Game thread

[muskieman]

Let's hope X can start the New Year with a W at Nova, but it will be a tall order. X has had a chance to refocus and fix some of their problems so far this season.


Jeff Neiburg on Twitter posted this

No update from Kyle Neptune on Justin Moore’s status. I would call it pretty unlikely Moore is back tomorrow for Villanova’s conference home opener vs. Xavier.

Other notes: X had a visitor from France in for a look see Nolan Traore, a 17-year-old point guard who is 6'4". He had visited the Zags before coming to X and saw the Zags get beaten by San Diego State and Bama on his trip across the pond. Nolan played for France in the FIBA U-18 Euro Championships last summer,r averaging 8.6 points and 3.1 assists. He scored in double figures in four games of the 7 he played in and was listed among the top 10 NBA prospects to compete at the event by ESPN.

Traore is listed as a possible first-round pick in the 2025 or 2026 NBA Draft by nbadraftroom.com.

[pdxmuskie]

I'd love to start the year the way the team ended it, with a win. Nova is beatable but they certainly have talent. X has not done well against Nova since entering the conference but it isn't the same coach that dominated Xavier nor the same coaches that struggled against Nova.

Consistent energy and smart execution by Xavier should make this a fun game to watch. Lack of effort or careless mistakes and fans will again be down on the team.

Nice to have an NBA draft prospect looking at Xavier.

[skyhops]

I can’t imagine Xavier having a defensive answer for Dixon. Hopefully the Euro’s learned how to shoot and box out of the break.

[X-lucidity]

H-U-G-E barometer gm for our guys tonight. Starting 2nd half of the season and both the Frosh & Euro’s can no longer claim
Innocence. This tough road test vs V will go a long ways to answer the question of will we be a viable tourney prospect or are we rebuilding, ( or both?) a win or even a well played loss are what I am expecting. After tonight, we get another week to practice and fine tune before the schedule turns brutal. So a win here would obviously put us in a really nice position to battle for top 7 in the league. Strap up Muskie Nation, we will learn a hell of a lot by 10:30pm..

[Anti-Homer]

Thankfully, Moore is out, or Claude would have two fouls before the 1st time out. I think the key is how well they contain Dixon. He is a very unathletic, but very effective and skilled player. He can shoot the three and has a variety of moves in the low post. If Abou can stay out of foul trouble (huge ask), he should be able to score on Dixon too.

Nova only has two, good three-point shooters (Dixon & Hart), and aggressively drive the ball and crash the glass. They shoot way too many threes at a low clip, so X needs to make them pay on long misses with runouts. X cannot send them to the line, b/c they are a typical Nova FT shooting team, whose percentage is 81%. That's higher than X's lab's percentage.

No prediction here. Just keep it close under the 5 minute mark, keep them off the line, then who knows?

[muskieman]

Officials - Pat Driscoll, Courtney Green, Nathan Farrell

Broadcasters - Tim Brando and Bill Raftery (Analyst)

[skyhops]

Ciani might not be a D1 player better off with other freshman center. We need toughness. Claude struggling

[gym from delhi]

Three travels thus far from Villanova; gotta love “modern” basketball

[Anti-Homer]

Claude makes Q look like Steph Curry. I'm going to start selling hard hats at Cintas. Ousame has gotten point-blank looks. He needs to execute. Nemeiksa looks more and more pedestrian every game. Give me more Djoko.

[skyhops]

Claude and Obu have no touch.