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Muskies Manipulate UMass!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
1/28/2008
Xavier did not shoot it very well from outside the arc (4-22) nor did they scorch the nets from the free throw line (23-34 - well below their usual 76% success rate); but, X still managed to cruise to a 77-65 road win over UMass Sunday in Amherst. The Muskies are first in the A-10 at 5-1 -- a half game up on Charlotte and Saint Joe's. SJU can pull into a tie with a win at GW Wednesday night. Charlotte is off until Saturday when they play Richmond. XU returns to Cintas Saturday against LaSalle (7-11,2-3).
The Muskies dug in hard with sticky stubborn half court defense. Stanley Burrell blanketed Mr Outside, Ricky Harris, limiting him to 8 points. He averages 20 and just scored 30 at St Joe's.
Many Muskies bottled up slasher Gary Forbes. He wound up with 16 points but on 15 shots (low efficiency) and he was so leg weary and frustrated he made just 5 of 10 free throws.
X controlled the boards against smaller Mass, outrebounding them 41-30 and scoring heavily inside the paint. Derrick Brown, CJ Anderson and Jason Love shot a collective 13-20 (65%).
Josh Duncan struggled from the floor (1-5) but made all 8 of his free throws and played all the key minutes at crunch time because Jason Love had fouled out. Josh triggered a 6 point rally that put the game away with an acrobatic reverse lay-up and two determined defensive rebounds. UM had cut the lead to 5 at 68-63 with 1:45 left when Josh imposed his will on the game.
Drew Lavender played huge minutes (38) and basically dictated tempo. UMass normally tries to speed teams up with full court pressure. Not against XU!! They didn't even think of attempting that tactic early, and when Travis Ford reluctantly tried to trap Drew out of desperation later, Lavender carved the Minutemen up like a holiday ham. He makes Xavier unpressable and also orchestrates the delay game flawlessly. It's the old Dean Smith-North Carolina Dayton-Don Donoher Four Corners Offense but with the shot clock. Lavender never picks up his dribble. He changes direction without slowing down. He knows exactly when and how to attack the basket and frustrate the opposition.
For the Muskies it was an impressive road win against a very good team. Mass was held 20 points below their average (85PPG). It was just their second home defeat.
X didn't luck out with circus shooting. They trotted out a repeatable physical winning formula for the road. Take away the "knowns" on offense (Forbes and Harris). Limit the opponent to one shot on most possessions. Work the ball inside first on offense and get the big men involved. Shoot a lot of free throws. Let Lavender break any attempts to press and give him the ball in the final 5 minutes to close out the victory. If the 3 pointers fall, fine!! It just makes things easier. They're gravvy -- a condiment - not the meat and potatoes for winning away from Cintas.
A-10 observations
Saint Joe's is a force. The Hawks guards have matured. Nivins and Ferguson are horses inside and Pat Calathes is a tough match-up at 6-9 on the wing. He seemingly has cut down on his turnovers. SJU owns two wins over UMass and a buzzer beater "W" at Temple courtesy of a Calathes 3 pointer. Their only loss is at Charlotte. They are close to unbeatable at tiny Alumni Gym although X has had some success there.
Charlotte has retooled under Bobby Lutz. Lee Goldwire is money from outside the arc. X plays them just once at Charlotte. Stanley Burrell's job is clear that night.
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