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Xavier @ Butler: Stats, stream, and keys to the game

Xavier looks to sweep the season series from Butler tonight at Hinkle.

By Brad D
NCAA Basketball: Georgetown at Xavier Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

Xavier Musketeers (21-3, 9-2)

Per Game Table
Player MP FG% 3P% FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Trevon Bluiett 34.1 .456 .424 .817 0.8 4.8 5.6 2.7 0.7 0.3 1.9 2.0 19.2
J.P. Macura 29.0 .459 .353 .831 1.4 2.9 4.3 3.1 1.4 0.4 2.0 2.3 12.7
Kerem Kanter 16.1 .556 .350 .765 1.4 3.9 5.3 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.8 1.3 10.3
Kaiser Gates 25.6 .430 .409 .810 1.0 4.2 5.2 1.0 0.5 0.3 0.6 2.6 8.5
Quentin Goodin 28.9 .431 .286 .825 0.4 2.6 3.0 5.2 1.0 0.2 2.3 2.0 8.1
Tyrique Jones 16.3 .655 .569 1.4 3.8 5.2 0.5 0.7 0.7 0.8 2.3 8.0
Naji Marshall 19.1 .542 .346 .719 1.0 2.3 3.3 1.5 0.6 0.2 1.4 1.3 7.5
Sean O'Mara 14.5 .646 .818 1.3 2.1 3.3 0.8 0.3 0.7 0.8 1.4 6.8
Paul Scruggs 16.5 .452 .258 .690 0.2 1.5 1.7 1.9 0.6 0.3 1.6 1.7 4.5
Elias Harden 7.5 .250 .125 1.000 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.5 0.2 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.8
Leighton Schrand 1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.8 0.0 0.0
Matt Singleton 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0
Nick Vanderpohl 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 2/6/2018.

Butler Bulldogs (17-7. 7-4)

Per Game Table
Player MP FG% 3P% FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Kelan Martin 34.3 .447 .333 .861 1.1 5.4 6.5 2.2 1.0 0.5 2.3 2.1 19.8
Kamar Baldwin 33.1 .445 .340 .742 0.5 4.9 5.3 3.1 1.7 0.5 2.2 2.5 15.6
Paul Jorgensen 29.3 .434 .388 .821 0.5 2.9 3.3 2.6 1.1 0.1 0.9 1.3 11.3
Tyler Wideman 20.5 .693 .000 .783 2.3 2.9 5.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 1.4 2.6 9.7
Sean McDermott 22.5 .495 .438 .810 1.2 2.6 3.8 1.2 0.5 0.3 0.8 2.0 7.3
Nate Fowler 16.8 .586 .250 .882 1.3 1.9 3.1 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.7 2.2 5.6
Aaron Thompson 24.4 .415 .222 .559 0.2 1.0 1.3 3.6 1.2 0.4 1.9 3.0 5.1
Henry Baddley 14.8 .563 .519 .917 0.4 1.5 1.8 0.6 0.3 0.5 0.6 1.4 4.5
Joey Brunk 5.9 .524 .500 0.8 1.3 2.1 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.4 0.5 1.5
Jerald Gillens-Butler 5.7 .200 .250 .750 0.3 0.3 0.6 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.7 1.4
Christian David 6.4 .318 .100 .500 0.2 0.5 0.7 0.5 0.2 0.0 0.3 0.9 1.1
Campbell Donovan 2.3 .250 .250 1.000 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6
Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 2/6/2018.

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Three keys

  • Get out early. Xavier doesn’t need to hit the first media timeout up 14-5 or anything, but they can’t afford a sluggish start against Butler on the road. Games get late early against teams that take care of the ball and can execute at the line, and Xavier doesn’t want to be chasing this one from early on.
  • Hassle Kelan Martin. Martin and Kamar Baldwin are the big guns for Butler, but I think Martin is the tougher matchup. If he gets rolling at home - where he shoots .497/.398/.886 - he’s capable of winning games by himself. I’d expect to see Naji and Kaiser get the bulk of the time making Martin’s life difficult.

Force misses. Xavier actually has the best defensive efficiency in the league right now, but they don’t get it by traditional means. X doesn’t force a lot of turnovers and they’ll give up their share of clean looks, but they are leading the Big East in defensive rebounding. X generally kills possessions after one shot; their defense tonight hinges on keeping Butler from getting hot.