Fairfield game thread

[muskieman]

Like Montana St Fairfield D is not good. If X takes their time with the ball X can make Fairfield pay. When Fairfield has the ball X has to control Caleb Fields and big man Supreme Cook.


Should be X by at least 20.

[skyhops]

No Jones hurts. Boum and Kunkle are not good defenders.

[Kevin Reilly]

Don't forget Tandy and Freemantle. I see the same defensive problems with Tandy and Boum. They get beat right to the basket. Pretty obvious that Jones is our best player. Very good first half for Kunkel and Freemantle. They need to get Nunge going. Ten turnovers is brutal. Feed the Big guys and play some defense. Go X

[muskieman]

they don't look in sync. Saw a few threes that should not have been taken. Jones being out has had a significant impact for sure

[Jesseandrippers]

We sure need a PG. Offense is very choppy. Perimeter defense is weak. Was hoping the final tuneup would look better.

[Kevin Reilly]

Freemantle with a triple double. Wow. Xavier played very good defense in the second half. Hope Jones is OK for Indiana. L
oved the effort in the 2nd half.

[muskieman]

a Jonesless Xavier still beats Fairfield. Foul Shooting suffered with Jackm4-10 made his first 2 and last two but clanged 6 in between. Kyky in foul trouble and 1-4 from the field but played some decent D at times. Zach with a triple-double 15-13-10

[Anti-Homer]

a Jonesless Xavier still beats Fairfield. Foul Shooting suffered with Jackm4-10 made his first 2 and last two but clanged 6 in between. Kyky in foul trouble and 1-4 from the field but played some decent D at times. Zach with a triple-double 15-13-10

A Joneless, Nungeless, Westless, Hollowayless, Bluiettless should have beaten this team going away. Jones is good, but if he is the best player on the team, i think x will be fighting for a 3 seed in the CBI. Very good defender and rebounder, runs a solid point, but lacks explosiveness, a go-to offensive move, and a consistent jumper outside of 10 feet. He just does not have a varied offensive repertoire. Regressed offensively since year one. Very good system player, but he is as much of an alpha as Tony The Tiger.

Too many turnovers again. I'm not sure why Free is getting such a loooooonnnnnggggg leash. He has been great the first two games offensively and below average defensively, and good offensively today and horrendously defensively. I think X should petition to allow Free to tether himself to the guy he is guarding. He leaves his man 7 out of 8 times, and I fear that he will either get abused or foul out against IN. I believe Miller is playing him an inordinate amount of minutes because he is the team's best offensive player, and he needs as many reps defensively to just not be too much of a liability to keep him on the court. I wish h would have played Hunter more thisseason because I think he will have to played 17+ minutes on Fri.

This team does not have good enough personnel to beat times in a rock fight but has to outscore teams, which they have the potential to do. Freshmen looking more and more comfortable, but I think X has to increase the tempo to win Friday.

Seacrest out.

[longliveskip]

No Jones hurts. Boum and Kunkle are not good defenders.

i specifically watched, especially Kunkel because Boum is gonna be guarding the ball mostly, but Kunkel played above average D last night. maybe got beat to the bucket on an over-powered drive but his D was solid and he was really our only offense in the first half. it's just not as bad as you make it out to be, i think, and i know you're basing it more on what you've seen in the past but he's not going to be the liability on defense this season that you think he is. Boum off the ball D needs work as he got beat on backcuts a couple of times. overall, with no Jones, these guys figured it out throughout the game and Freemantle/Nunge took over the 2nd half. if we should even 65% from the line, we cover.

crowd was sparse because of the late game time/opponent but i can't wait to see what the Cintas sounds like on Friday.

gonna be a good one. Hopefully Jones is ready by then.

[muskieman]

In Sean's words, Kunkel was, "It's almost like (Kunkel) got us from the beginning of the game to halftime," as he scored 13 points in the first half I'd say if Kunkel had not given X a spark in the first half X would have been in a world of hurt instead of down by only 2 points. His D is not that bad and in some respects better this year than in previous years so far.

This game came down to the inside game, and when X decided to change what they had been doing and emphasized the inside game, they unleashed the Jack and Zack team. Jack's mysterious 4-10 for the line I look at as an anomaly and hope it doesn't become something that happens again. It was Jack's 7-point individual run that started the downward spiral of Fairfield in the second half. Additionally, the D especially with the big guys stood out in the second half