Seton Hall rolls Xavier: Three takeaways

Xavier is five deep

For most of the second half Travis Steele went with his starters. After watching the way the bench played in the first half, it was hard to blame him. KyKy Tandy drilled a three and then Quincy McKnight absolutely devoured him. Tandy missed an assignment on a fast break, threw the ball away off miscommunication with Paul Scruggs, then never was a factor again. Zach Freemantle just wasn’t strong enough, Dontarius James was back to being timid, and Bryce Moore looks hurt. No depth from the bench as all four combined for three points.

Myles Powell was the best player on the floor

Xavier had no answer for Seton Hall’s senior on either end. He ran Naji ragged on the offensive end on his way to 24/9/4 and Xavier never got an offensive threat going to answer him. Part of that came from the fact that Marshall was exhausted from chasing Powell most of the game. Paul Scruggs played well for Xavier, but the ineffectiveness of Goodin and Tandy meant he moved on to the ball, which greatly limits him. Tyrique Jones was a monster, but he spent much of the game having to feed off scraps. The offense was not good.

This game was once again over before it got going

Xavier started really well, then allowed a 21-5 run. From then they cut it to six once and four once. At no point did they get back within one possession. When Paul Scruggs stole the ball with Xavier down four, the Musketeers win percentage hit it’s highest point since the 14:13 mark of the game, 27.5%. From the point when there was 27:49 left to play in the game Xavier’s win probability hovered around 25%. This was barely ever a contest as the Musketeers got obliterated on their home floor.