Xavier v. Dayton: Three Takeaways

Xavier romped and rolled all over Dayton after a foul-tastic first half. With the win comes the Advocare Invitational championship and a notice to the country that Xavier is for real.

Momentum is everything

This game was pretty close in the first half, but a huge 21-0 run blew the doors wide open for Xavier. Dayton missed a few good chances during that time, but the key was the momentum that Xavier had. Six players scored at least 8+ points this game and James Farr pounded the boards during the 21 point run. It didn't hurt at all that Xavier made three 3-pointers during the streak. Those seven minutes changed the game and Dayton could not recover in time.

Rebound, rebound, rebound

Xavier entered halftime with a 43-35 point lead and rebounding was the difference maker. Both teams shot about the same, 49% for Xavier and 50% for Dayton, but Xavier out rebounded Dayton and had more chances. This theme continued throughout the entire game and became crucial to the 21-point run. Jalen Reynolds, Myles Davis, and James Farr all had 5+ rebounds during the game and 10 different players got in on the action. Rebounds lead to chances, and Xavier got plenty of them.

Ref show

As much fun as tonight's win was, the first half was tough to watch. With over 20 fouls in the first half alone, the game felt as though it was crawling along. Hearing the whistle every 45 seconds got old quickly and it felt like the winning formula was to have Reynolds run towards the basket and get fouled. Hopefully we do not have to see this crew again, because we're running out of hair quickly.