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Hello, friends from the outer reaches of the Midwest! Congrats on the 2-0 record! Wofford and Maryland-Eastern Shore? That's no mean feat. We're sitting at 1-0, having knocked off a game but ultimately inferior Miami of Ohio squad. It wasn't the most beautiful display of basketball that the Cintas Center has ever gotten to witness, but it wasn't a loss to Radford.
Someone's perfect season will end tonight. Will it be yours or ours? Hard to say for certain, but here's some background information to get you started.
Xavier personnel
| No. | Name | Yr. | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | PPG | RPG | APG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Edmond Sumner | Fr. | G | 6-6 | 183 | 19.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | .667 | 1.000 | .600 | Versatile scorer |
| 10 | Remy Abell | Sr. | G | 6-4 | 197 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | .286 | .250 | 1.000 | Best defender |
| 15 | Myles Davis | Jr. | G | 6-2 | 188 | 5.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | .200 | .333 | .667 | Best shooter on the team; emotional leader |
| 5 | Trevon Bluiett | So. | G/F | 6-6 | 208 | 10.0 | 6.0 | 3.0 | .444 | .400 | .000 | Leading returning scorer; will drill jumpers from anywhere |
| 1 | Jalen Reynolds | Jr. | F | 6-10 | 238 | 16.0 | 15.0 | 3.0 | .556 | .000 | .857 | Absolute monster in the middle; prone to mental mistakes |
| RESERVES | ||||||||||||
| Larry Austin Jr. | So. | G | 6-2 | 179 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | Good defender; good in transition | |
| 2 | James Farr | Sr. | F/C | 6-10 | 244 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 | .333 | .000 | .000 | Does the dirty work in the middle |
| 13 | Makindé London | Fr. | F | 6-10 | 220 | |||||||
| 21 | Tim Stainbrook | Jr. | F | 6-6 | 200 | Technically a walk-on | ||||||
| 22 | Kaiser Gates | Fr. | F | 6-8 | 217 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .667 | Stretch four; not afraid to shoot |
| 54 | Sean O'Mara | So. | F/C | 6-10 | 247 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | A man in search of post minutes |
| 55 | J.P. Macura | So. | G | 6-5 | 203 | 17.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 | .444 | .500 | 1.000 | Ridiculous bench scorer; defensive work in progress |
Xavier strategy
- Our defense is mostly man-to-man, but we're not very good at that. If buckets start flowing, Coach Mack will try to stem the tide by jumping the team into a 1-3-1 zone.
- You may have noticed that we have a guy averaging 17 PPG coming off the bench. That's not an accident, nor is he a one-game fluke at the start of the season. JP is an incredibly confident offensive player who gives his all for as long as he's on the court. Sadly, he currently defends like a traffic cone except at the top of the 1-3-1 zone. He's working on it, but that's why he comes off the pine for now.
- Offensive play ostensibly works through Jalen Reynolds on the post. When we work inside out, we're pretty tough to stop. When our guards get dribble or shot happy, the offense stagnates. We went seven minutes without scoring at one point against Miami.
Other things to consider
- We have a pretty dang stout home court advantage. I'm not saying Cintas is unassailable, just that it takes a lot of doing.
- Point guard is a really young position for us; starter Ed Sumner redshirted last year. Reserve Larry Austin, Jr. played but averaged about 3 minutes per game. Junior Myles Davis will fill in at the point sometimes, but he's actually a shooting guard.
- Legendary halftime performer Red Panda will be doing her thing at the interval. If you're in attendance, don't go use the bathroom while she's on the floor.