The do it all scoring guard brings his 178 career made three pointers to a roster built to bomb away.
In Marcus Foster, Dante Maddox, and Ryan Conwell, Xavier has three new transfer guards this season looking to follow in the steps of Souley Boum and Quincy Olivari by jumping straight into a lead guard role and garnering some post season honors. Out of those three, the player who most closely stylistically matches Boum and Olivari is Maddox, who arrives for his final season of college eligibility by way of Cal State Fullerton and Toledo. While Foster and Conwell both prefer to work either at the rim or from deep, Foster shot 10.3% of his shots from the midrange and Conwell 6.9%, Maddox keeps with the trend set by Boum (34.4%) and Olivari (27.6%) with his 27.3% marking him out as a true three level scorer. His conversion rate of 38% lands right in the middle of Olivari’s 36% and Boum’s 40% as well.
Maddox has not just scored the ball from all three levels throughout his career, he has done so extremely efficiently as well. His last two seasons he has averaged 13.3 points per game on a .458/.424/.808 shooting line. As a junior he was 56th in the country in effective field goal % and 38th in true shooting % before seeing his shots go up about 150% the next season and staying in the top 400 in both categories. He has also historically been good at getting to the free throw line, where he is 81% for his career, so even on nights when his shot is not falling he can still find a way to score.
Maddox ran the point for a Toledo team the won the MAC and posted a top 500 turnover rate, although his assist numbers were more in line with Trey Green than Dayvion McKnight. His steal rate is not exceptional and both his DRTG and DBPM (both somewhat crude measures of defensive production) are below average, but he does his part on the boards and blocks the odd shot from time to time.
Xavier’s backcourt boasts a wealth of talented, established options and Maddox figures to be right in the mix to either start or provide a spark off the bench. It is worth noting that in the exhibition vs. Dayton, he provided 12/7/2 off the bench on an ultra efficient 4-6/2-4/2-3 shooting line. Whether he cracks the starting 5 or ends up coming off the bench, Maddox has proven that he is ready for his shot at getting to the NCAA Tournament and showing the country what he can do.