Houston Game thread

[Kevin Reilly]

Well the lads gave great effort but the foul shots and Houston's physicality were too much to overcome. We had no offense the last 8 minutes. I like the effort and that is all we can ask for. Playing good teams we have to be sharper. Houston may be the best defensive team we face all year. Winnable game but the hill was a little too high for us to climb

[pdxmuskie]

Based on how that game went it should have been a very easy win. Houston played terrible and deserved to lose. Xavier unfortunately also played terrible and deserved to lose. Additionally, the officials were terrible as they once again decided all contact and perceived contact was a foul, completely destroying any flow for either team.

Why it should have been an easy win and something only 2 Xavier players seemed to recognize is that if you fall when the opposing team is close, the officials called a foul. Doesn't matter if the contact actually happened or had any impact, just fall to the ground and the whistle will blow. Hitting foul shots, specifically the front end of a 1 and 1 would have added a significant amount of points. Avoiding unnecessary turnovers also probably would have resulted in a lot more points. Most were unforced turnovers and 2 nullified made 3 point shots.

Offensively Claude, McKnight and Nemeiksa were terrible. I believe Ciani had 2 moving screens so you can add him to that list, though the 1 was a bit questionable. Nemeiksa needs to learn how to dunk. Twice he had easy scoring opportunities but got blocked because he went up soft. He would have been fouled if he went for the dunk and probably would have successfully thrown 1 down. Claude and McKnight couldn't make shots if their lives depended on it. Someone should have gotten in their face and said to simply trust their teammates.

Swain had a lot of smart plays and was 1 of the Xavier players to recognize the ineptness of the officials. Olivari was the other player to realize it was easy to draw fouls. Ousmane had another solid game.

This team should do nothing the next 3 practices other than shooting Free Throws and learning the difference between good and bad passes. They are lucky Houston played lazy defense otherwise they would have had another 10 turnovers on terrible passes.

The good news is the team plays hard. They fight and don't give up. Execution and basketball IQ are problems but that also indicates there is a lot of upside.

[muskieman]

Sean https://youtu.be/24v6RNAjzPI
Quincy and Des https://youtu.be/6Ab81SMDFLE

[longliveskip]

i'll say Xavier covers the current 8.5 point spread and also hits the under. i'm guessing a kind of ugly game where both teams have lulls/struggle to score.

i'll say Houston 65, Xavier 62

bump ^^^

[longliveskip]

Based on how that game went it should have been a very easy win. Houston played terrible and deserved to lose. Xavier unfortunately also played terrible and deserved to lose. Additionally, the officials were terrible as they once again decided all contact and perceived contact was a foul, completely destroying any flow for either team.

Why it should have been an easy win and something only 2 Xavier players seemed to recognize is that if you fall when the opposing team is close, the officials called a foul. Doesn't matter if the contact actually happened or had any impact, just fall to the ground and the whistle will blow. Hitting foul shots, specifically the front end of a 1 and 1 would have added a significant amount of points. Avoiding unnecessary turnovers also probably would have resulted in a lot more points. Most were unforced turnovers and 2 nullified made 3 point shots.

Offensively Claude, McKnight and Nemeiksa were terrible. I believe Ciani had 2 moving screens so you can add him to that list, though the 1 was a bit questionable. Nemeiksa needs to learn how to dunk. Twice he had easy scoring opportunities but got blocked because he went up soft. He would have been fouled if he went for the dunk and probably would have successfully thrown 1 down. Claude and McKnight couldn't make shots if their lives depended on it. Someone should have gotten in their face and said to simply trust their teammates.

Swain had a lot of smart plays and was 1 of the Xavier players to recognize the ineptness of the officials. Olivari was the other player to realize it was easy to draw fouls. Ousmane had another solid game.

This team should do nothing the next 3 practices other than shooting Free Throws and learning the difference between good and bad passes. They are lucky Houston played lazy defense otherwise they would have had another 10 turnovers on terrible passes.

The good news is the team plays hard. They fight and don't give up. Execution and basketball IQ are problems but that also indicates there is a lot of upside.

pds, with all due respect, i don't even know where to begin with this post because i can't get behind it when your first statement is a falsity of all falsities - "this should have been an EASY win". seriously, what game did you watch? what team did you think we were playing? they're number 6 in the country for a reason. they're the #1 in the NCAA in defense. they played "LAZY" defense? are you serious? NOTHING was easy vs them. they are so long and tough at the rim so they make it so hard to finish any time around the rim. i'm not sure how you think their defense was lazy and that they played bad. they didn't.

the refs dictated some, but Houston forces them to figure out what they're gonna call as their defensive philosophy is to be so aggressive - push, pull, grab, hand check, jump to block every shot, etc. but they're such good athletes and very good at it that they make you work for every shot.

ft's weren't the issue as much as front end's of 1 and 1's were. those would've helped. might as well mark it as a turnover when you miss those. houston shot terrible from the line as well so that was a wash.

not having Green hurt us on offense but not on defense so it's probably a wash that he didn't play because he struggles to guard. he makes up for it by giving us a perimeter threat. our defense was SO MUCH better than vs Oakland. Like night and day. we got multiple stops in a row at times when we were down double digits to actually take the lead in the 2nd half. both games were winnable but Houston was just better on D and able to keep us from scoring whereas vs Oakland we were just WORSE on D and couldn't stop them.

the moving screens were bad and you could tell coach miller was pissed at them but both guys are at fault. you can't start dribbling too early and not let your teammate get set so that's why those fouls were called. that's an easy fix for Sean.

didn't think we worked hard enough in the 2nd half to get Olivari shots but that's Houston's D just simply not helping off him at all on the perimeter knowing he was the ONLY dude we have who could hit a 3 without Green playing.

all in all, it was disappointing because it was a chance for a signature win against a top 10 opponent. not like the BE won't give up more opps for that but it's one we could have had.

excited to hear the Jerome news. if hes' able to play by Mid-January that would be awesome. it will take some time for him to get back to bball shape. probably more than a month.

we will be fine.

in Sean we trust.

let's go X!

[Anti-Homer]

We knew there would be a lot of ups and downs with this team, and that is playing out. So far, I agree with SM that the jury is still out re: the transfer portal guys, but so far, I would give them a straddling B, B-, with:
Olivari: B +, McKnight, B, Ousmane C+. Olivari can really score and is only limited by forcing too many shots, which has lessened, no doubt due to Miller’s mandate. He also plays solid D. McKnight is solid. He would be perfect if he came into Goodin’s situation as a freshman, where scoring was a luxury, not a necessity. He has a solid midrange game and is crafty going to the hole. Unfortunately, like Des, if he shoots 17 feet out or more, there is a great chance of someone getting a long rebound. Ousame does what Ousame does. Made some nice post buckets, but committed four fouls, including his customary, minimum of two head-scratching ones. Most frustrating X player since Justin Martin.

The bad of the game is obvious: turnovers, free throw shooting, and Claude and McKnight shooting exactly half of X’s three-point attempts, eight. How did they do? Let’s just X would have shot 50% statistically from three without their contribution. If there was a game where they needed Trey Green, it was ag. Houston. They crowded the lanes knowing the only people who could shoot outside at a decent clip were Olivari (who they clamped down on and often trapped), and Nemeiksa, who was not quick enough and got many of his shots altered and blocked.

Now, what all posters wait for after every game: AH’s Game Balls.

Olivari: He played really well with a limited number of shot attempts, against one of the best defensive teams in the country. He also had a 4/1 A-To ratio as well.

Nemeiksa: He was only two for eight but had three good shots blocked. He did have eight boards and two blocks. Who saw that coming? I really hope he gets an extra year. He battled.

Claude: Stats weren’t good, 3-13, but he was the only guy who was able to create, and always had 2-3 guys crashing on him. Great effort, including great D as always.
Swain: He is going to be really good but is offensively challenged now. He is a great defender and had two blocks and several tipped balls. He also challenged their drivers at the rim, which caused some misses. He did have some bad T.O.s but was still a net positive.

Muskieman…..just because.

SM was dealt a bad hand, with more injuries that few coaches could have absorbed and flourished with, but X still fields a competitive team. I agree with him: this team will be considerably better in about six weeks, due to the team’s development and one of the hardest schedules to date in the country, and that’s even before BE play. Thank God he is at the helm.

[skyhops]

McNight a B? He can’t shoot and his defensive was terrible on Fryer. He is not a BE guard unfortunately.

[muskieman]

McNight a B? He can’t shoot and his defensive was terrible on Fryer. He is not a BE guard unfortunately.

Do you mean Cryer? That wasn't his man.

[skyhops]

Cryer sorry and yes he was guarding him and then Miller put Olivari on him. I’m sure Green will begin to take some of McNight’s minutes if he continues to struggle shooting and on the defensive end.

[Anti-Homer]

Cryer makes a lot of guys look bad. Top 8 guard in CBB. Mcknight usually plays solid, physical defense. Leads the team in steals at 1.5/gm. He also averages 4 boards a game. He is not a scoring guard at 7 pts/game but is a good midrange shooter, and crafty going to the hole. He is a reluctant three-point shooter, thankfully. Hopefully, Claude adopts that same mindset. He is a good, not great passer, but is a reliable facilitator, with a 3/1 A/TO ratio. One area he needs to improve significantly in is his FT shooting