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Muskies Can't Close Out Memphis!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
2/4/2012
XU played 34 strong minutes on the road against Conference USA power Memphis but forgot how to score down the stretch and lost 72-68 at the Fedex Forum. The Muskies fleshed out their lead to 11 points at 62-51 with 6:16 remaining in regulation thanks to a Dez Wells baseline pull-up jumper and FT. For the next 6 minutes it was all Memphis Tigers. They outscored XU 17-1 building a 68-63 lead which they successfully closed out.
The positives far outweighed the negatives for Xavier though. Frosh Dez Wells fashioned a career game (19 points on 8-10 shooting in 33 minutes with 5 rebounds and 4 assists). Kenny Frease competed well down low (10 points-10 rebounds). Tu Holloway scored 12 with 7 assists and just 1 turnover but managed only 4 FT attempts.
Joe Jackson and the Barton brothers bottled up the Muskie guards during that key 17-1 Tiger run. Tu couldn't make a shot (0-3FG) and couldn't get a call so he could shoot FTs. Jackson is a great defender but the officiating crew seemed to suspend the hand check rule down the stretch at least when XU had the ball.
Did X run out of gas? Maybe!! Mark Lyons was hamstrung down the stretch with foul trouble and let Tiger guards just blow by him on several occassions. The Muskie bench except for Lyons (14 points) was non-existent. Jeff Robinson,Travis Taylor and Dee Davis combined for only 19 minutes 0 points-3 measley rebounds and 6 glaring turnovers. Even average production from that trio probably translates into an excellent XU victory over an elite NCAA bound team.
Offensively,Xavier shared the ball well (17 assists on 25 field goals). They made 80% of their FTs and broke even with Memphis on the boards. X even out scored MU from 3 point range 6 makes to 4. The sticky wicket was FT attempts. Xavier made 12 of 15-MU made 25 of 28. XU was whistled for 25 fouls to MU's 15 in a game where Memphis spent most of the time trying to catch-up. Typical bad-not horrible road whistle. Just bad enough for Xavier to lose it.
Seriously-Tu is not getting the calls he got last season and this season before the stupid fight. Joe Jackson used hand checks consistently to steer and control Holloway. Can't blame Jackson. The zebras allowed it.
Still XU should have found a way to win after giving such a strong effort. The defense was solid overall. Coach Mack mixed in some zone looks with the packline and turned Memphis into a jump shooting team on many possessions.
XU also cut through the Tiger full court press easily using Andre Walker as a safety valve and third ball handler and Memphis is a very good pressing team. The half court offense let XU down in that bad late stretch as Holloway was kept off the FT line and nobody else stepped up to make shots.
The defeat at Memphis is certainly acceptable. X is 15-8 overall and 6-3 in the A-10-now tied for second in the conference with St Louis and La Salle. Temple moved into first at 6-2 clobbering Rhode Island at Kingston.
URI plays at Cintas Wednesday. St Louis topped Dayton 58-50. The UD Flyers have now lost 4 in a row. St Joe's beat La Salle 70-66 in their Big 5 game at the Palestra. If the Muskies play as well as they did at Memphis down the stretch in the A-10 (7 games left), expect 5 or more wins and a Top 4 league finish.
Another A-10 title may well hinge on winning next Saturday night against streaking Temple in Philly.
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