clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Crosstown Shootout game thread

Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports
Xavier Musketeers (9-0)
Rk Player G MP FG% 3P% FT% TRB AST PTS
1 Trevon Bluiett 9 29.8 .467 .472 .690 8.1 2.2 15.9
2 Myles Davis 9 27.4 .414 .385 .931 3.6 2.8 11.1
3 J.P. Macura 9 21.1 .475 .345 .829 2.8 2.3 10.6
4 Edmond Sumner 9 24.6 .431 .389 .691 2.7 3.1 10.6
5 Jalen Reynolds 9 19.6 .479 .500 .727 6.7 1.0 10.3
6 James Farr 9 18.9 .522 .000 .826 8.7 0.3 10.1
7 Remy Abell 9 25.7 .340 .227 .880 1.4 2.2 7.0
8 Sean O'Mara 8 7.8 .615 .529 2.1 0.3 3.1
9 Kaiser Gates 7 6.7 .231 .222 .700 2.6 0.1 2.1
10 Larry Austin 9 13.0 .429 .000 .600 1.3 1.2 2.0
11 Makinde London 8 7.4 .231 .250 .500 1.6 0.8 1.4
12 Alex Bergen 1 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
13 Ashanti Burgess 1 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
14 Kevin Coker 1 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
15 Tim Stainbrook 3 2.7 0.0 0.0 0.0
Provided by Sports-Reference.com/CBB: View Original Table
Generated 12/12/2015.
v.
Cincinnati Bearcats (8-1)
Rk Player G MP FG% 3P% FT% TRB AST PTS
1 Octavius Ellis 9 23.1 .625 .630 7.7 1.0 11.0
2 Farad Cobb 9 21.9 .439 .438 .833 1.3 1.7 10.9
3 Troy Caupain 9 28.1 .405 .302 .731 2.8 4.2 10.2
4 Gary Clark 9 26.6 .647 .600 .704 8.2 2.2 9.8
5 Shaquille Thomas 9 21.0 .509 .444 .630 4.7 1.9 8.3
6 Jacob Evans 9 19.3 .362 .382 .889 4.2 1.8 7.9
7 Kevin Johnson 9 21.6 .362 .318 .667 2.0 2.2 7.8
8 Coreontae DeBerry 9 16.7 .550 .667 5.2 0.2 7.3
9 Justin Jenifer 9 12.2 .452 .375 .692 1.0 2.3 4.8
10 Quadri Moore 8 9.6 .478 .000 .700 2.3 0.3 3.6
11 Zack Tobler 3 3.0 .333 .625 1.0 0.3 2.3
Provided by Sports-Reference.com/CBB: View Original Table
Generated 12/12/2015.

Three keys:

-Attack the rim. Even in light of everything I just said about scoring inside, I think this is the way to go for Xavier. No officiating crew wants to be the one to let another Shootout end in a fracas, so I'd expect whistles to be a little tight. X has the depth to absorb a lot of foul calls, the whistle usually favors the home team (sorry, it's an ugly truth), and the Muskies are really good from the line right now. There are a lot of moving parts to a successful offensive effort against a good defense, but getting the ball into the middle and making things happen would be a great start for Xavier.

-Be patient. Cincinnati is in the top 10 in the nation in forcing offensive possessions to run long. They do a good job of not giving up easy shots early in the shot clock and then locking down when opponents' throats start to get tight. Xavier has the fire power to get up good shots if they commit to moving the ball instead of worrying about the clock running down. There's no reason you should be seeing Xavier forcing things early in possessions tomorrow.

-Control the emotion. Someone is going to get a technical foul; it's basically guaranteed. When that happens, we're all obviously better served if it lands on a Cincinnati player. Jalen kind of has a reputation as a hot head (for whatever reason), and JP strikes me as the kind of guy who might threaten to take his opponent's mother out to a nice seafood dinner and then never call her again. With the game being played at Cintas and Xavier being favored, there should be plenty of energy in the building. It will be incumbent on X to channel that into something productive.