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Muskies Clip Colonials!!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
2/2/2012
Xavier dodged 3 GW bullets (shots) in the final 20 seconds and squeezed out a 59-58 A-10 road win in DC Wednesday night. Things looked a trifle grim for the Muskies when GW's star PG Tony Taylor hit two FTs with 3:22 left to put the Colonials up 58-54, but XU clamped down defensively and shut GW out the rest of the way finishing on a 5-0 run (two Tu Holloway lay-ups and a Kenny Frease FT). The stingy defense brought back good memories of earlier come from behind wins over Vanderbilt and Purdue. The final GW possession seemed a mixture of strong Muskie defense, panicky Colonial offense and a touch of luck for X.
Holloway took away GW's top option-Tony Taylor(20 points). Andre Walker locked up Serbian sniper Nemanja Mikic(19 points-5-8 from 3). Guard Brian Bynes drove the lane awkwardly and missed a twisting lay-up. Dwayne Smith grabbed the offensive rebound and tried for a stickback but Walker rotated over to help and got a piece of the ball. Lasan Kromah came up with the ball in the ensuing scramble and missed a wild close-in shot and that was it.
Road wins in the conference are precious this season. XU is now 3-2 away from Cintas in league games.
Tu Holloway had a great night (21 points-7 assists-6 rebounds). He controlled the final 5 minutes and closed out the win as he had at Charlotte.
Xavier limited GW to 36% FG shooting overall and just 4 made FTs but the Colonials drilled 10 3 pointers-way above their average. It's been a constant negative theme for the Muskies. Bigger wing shooters(Mikic-GW,Barnett-Charlotte,Loe and Ellis-SLU,Fabrizius and Chris Johnson-Dayton) have found open shots from outside the arc.
And Xavier struggled again from the foul line(just 10-20). Mark Lyons had a second straight poor shooting night. Brad Redford started the second half in his place. Redford scored 8 in 19 minutes and held his own defensively. Dez Wells didn't score the ball well (4 points) but he led the way on the boards (7 rebounds).
XU has climbed from 7th in the A-10 to 3rd after road wins at Charlotte and GW. The Muskies are 6-3. LaSalle leads at 6-2,but the Explorers have 5 road games in the second half and their 3 games at home are St Louis,Temple and St Bonnies. Temple is second(5-2) with 5 wins in a row. Xavier's at Temple a week from Saturday. 3 teams are tied at 5-3(SLU,UMass and St Bonnies).
Mass lost in OT 81-78 at Rhode Island. The Minutemen turned it over 20 times. URI forward Orion Outerbridge had a career night (29 points-11 rebounds). URI's at Cintas next Wednesday. 3 more teams are tied at 4-4(St Joe's,Duquesne and Dayton). UD lost at home to Duquesne 83-73. That's 3 Flyer's losses in a row.
XU has 7 games left in the A-10(4 at home-URI, Dayton, Charlotte and Richmond) and 3 away(Temple,UMass, and St Louis). 10 wins ought to net a Top 4 finish and a first round A-10 tourney bye. 11 or 12 wins and the Muskies are right in there for a 6th straight conference championship.
NCAA resumes need feathering down the stretch.The Muskies step out of conference Saturday with a great chance to do just that. They play Memphis on the road at the FedEx Forum (1PM-Fox Sports Ohio).
X has benefitted in recent seasons with road wins after Jan 1st at LSU,Florida and Georgia. It's sort of like an unofficial Bracketbuster game for the Muskies but it's almost a win-win.
A victory at Memphis becomes a resume hightlight. A loss would be interpreted as a brave act of scheduling and not a black mark. Memphis is the class of Conference USA despite 2 road losses in their league(at Central Florida by 1 and at Southern Miss 75-72 Wednesday night).
The Tigers are 15-7 overall and 6-2 in C-USA with a strong RPI. They're 11-1 at home (lone loss to unbeaten 10th rated Murray State). Memphis draws huge crowds (17,000 plus) despite the NBA Grizzlies.
M plays a 3 guard line-up with a dribble drive offense set on attacking the basket and a full court pressure man to man defense with a 1-3-1 zone thrown in as a change of pace.
Coach Josh Pastner is a John Calipari clone. He starts one Junior and 4 sophomores. The offense thrives on lay-ups and dunks and judicious kick-outs for open threes. Lanky 6-6 Wil Barton is an NBA first rounder(19PPG-8.5 Rebs-3 assists). His brother Antonio is smaller but grittier.
The best shooter is Chris Crawford who scored a career high 23 at S.Miss. The inside is handled by beast-like 6-8 250 Tarik Black(10PPG-5 Reb) and Seton Hall transfer Ferrakohn Hall. Super quick Joe Jackson plays 25 minutes/game coming off the bench. The top frontcourt sub is Wesley Witherspoon.
Depth has eroded a bit. 6-6 Frosh Adonis Thomas was starting but had ankle surgery and 3 point sniper Charles Carmuche has knee tendinitis. But Memphis has a very good very athletic 7 man rotation and they win about 90% of their home games at Fedex.
An XU win may be a long shot but the Tigers are young and sometimes throw the ball a lot to the guys in the other color uniforms. Memphis is not a great rebounding team either.
Maybe the Muskies will benefit from playing a team that wants to run?? Most A-10 teams try to bottle up XU and defuse their fast break. Memphis is so talented they just outquick and outrun people.
Mark Lyons needs to return to shooting form. X needs to work Tarik Black into foul trouble by consistently feeding the post despite the blocked shots. Chris Mack has to find somebody to guard Wil Barton and try to contain his dribble.
This is a gravvy game for Xavier!! Nobody expects them to win it with the struggles of late-on the road-against an elite team, but it should be a fun atmosphere and a change of pace out of conference and Memphis isn't going to hold the ball so the Muskies can just let it fly and flow. Expect a terrific game!!!
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