Xavier v. WKU: Three Takeaways

This particular game against a directional from Kentucky went nothing like the last one did. Where Xavier made a meal out of eventually dispatching NKU, WKU barely put up a fight and went down in the way that you'd expect a team so low in Ken Pomeroy's rankings to do when coming to the Cintas. There is a big game looming down the road and the Musketeers could have looked past this one to that. They didn't though, and they'll roll into another weekend undefeated and on the rise.

Xavier ended this one early

The Musketeers took a few minutes to get rolling but once they did, they buried the Hilltoppers rather than let them feel like a part of the game. It was 14 at the half, but Xavier led by double digits from the seven minute mark on. None of the faffing about that plagued the game against the Norse was was evident here, just Xavier playing the flat track bully.

Point guard isn't as settled as we thought

Coming into today LAJ's turnover rate was 32.1%. He coughed it up three more times today and he looked tentative doing it. Edmond Sumner was excellent, racking up five assists without turning the ball over and also pouring in 12 points on only five shots, but he can't play every minute. As Xavier was throttling the game late, it was Myles Davis who was doing the ball handling. He has six assists to go with only one turnover. LAJ needs to figure it out soon, or he's not going to see much time.

The shooting is back

Tonight Xavier put up a cool .571/.438/.727 shooting line. No, WKU isn't a good defensive team, but Xavier hadn't been a good shooting team either. The last couple games are now starting to show some shooters getting hot for the Musketeers. Myles Davis was 3-5 from deep, Trevon Bluiett was 3-6, and JP somehow managed to get nine points without lifting from behind the arc once. Inside the arc Jalen Reynolds and James Farr shot 20 times and made 13 of them. This, finally, is progress.