|
Muskies Blitzed by Flyers at UD Arena
1/21/2012
 | | Mark Lyons goes hard to the rim, but is called for a charging foul.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Tu Holloway floats in the lane and puts up a shot for two points.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Kenny Frease goes after the opening tip in a sea of red.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |
Surely there were flashbacks to the 2009-10 season running through more than few of the Xavier players' minds. Most likely through the fans', though. Then, Xavier was blown out 90-65 by the Flyers at UD Arena. Xavier regrouped to win the A10 and take a very good Kansas State team to the wire in the Sweet 16. After that loss, the Muskies ran off 10 of 11, including beating that same Dayton team again in the A10 tourney - and sending them to the NIT.
Nonetheless, Saturday's 87-72 loss to the Flyers is as hard to take as any of the Musketeers' (13-6, 4-2) other losses. The inability to play strong defense against their rival undermines all of the good work they had accomplished over the past homestand.
The numbers are brutal. They gave up a stunning 46 points in the first half (most since the La Salle game), and 87 points in the game (the most given up in regulation since losing 90-65 to UD a couple of years ago). The Flyers (14-5, 5-1) drilled 11 threes and shot 50% for the game. Throw in a 12 for 24 performance from the free throw line by Xavier, and it's enough to make most fans sick.
And certainly, this will make many fans and pundits question whether the Musketeers are back - or if they ever will return to that team that was 8-0. Or perhaps this is that team, they're just more flawed than everyone thought.
The frustrating thing is it's not as if the Muskies played poorly on offense. They were right about at their season average. They shot 46.4% for the game and 57.1% from three. But it's the way the game was played that hurt most.
UD turned this one into a track meet. As good as Xavier is in the fast break, they can't win shootouts. The only pure scorer on this team is Mark Lyons. Tu Holloway is a creator. Dez Wells a slasher. No one on this team is the kind of pure scorer, like a Jordan Crawford, that can just take over a game. Yes, some may argue that Holloway is close to that, but 7 of 16 shooting is not taking over a game.
What killed Xavier was everything else, other than the offense. Wells was out of position on several three point attempts that fell. Dee Davis couldn't match up one on one with Kevin Dillard when given his opportunities. Kenny Frease, as has happened far too many times this year, failed to show up. He provided only 5 points and 5 rebounds. At seven feet, the big man has to be more productive. He should be an offensive force. Instead, he was dominated by Matt Kavanaugh, who went for 20 and 9 for UD. Combine that with 45 points from the guard trio of Dillard, Williams, and Parker, and the Muskies were in trouble.
And, despite committing just 9 turnovers and producing 16 assists, the Muskies failed to pull closer than 11 down the stretch of the second half. It was the failure of the defense again.
They were outrebounded 37-25 and were continuously burned by terrific ball movement and back door screens and cuts. Unable to put together appropriate halftime adjustments like they did against St. Joe's, Xavier was hurt by much of the same in the second half. Simply put, Archie Miller and Dayton executed a perfect game plan to beat the Musketeers.
It was a perfect storm of good offense by UD, bad defense and free throw shooting by XU, and a raucous crowd at UD Arena.
The Musketeers will look to regroup against St. Louis (15-4, 3-2) on Wednesday night, 7 PM, at the Cintas Center.
|
|
