Don’t bother reading this recap.
What are we going to learn from a game like this? If Xavier wins, they were supposed to. It’s what they’ve been doing all year, with this marking their sixth home win over a team outside the top 250 in the KenPom. Even if they unleash a comical beating… who cares? The team they paid money to come in and get crushed did so.
If they lose, or even play it close? Blech.
From the off, it was clear that Xavier wasn’t here to mess around. Barely two minutes in, X was up 7-1. The first double-digit lead came before the first media timeout. By the second, the Muskies were up 22. Before the second set of commercials had run, Xavier was effectively home an dry.
The only question was what the final score would be.
There were some encouraging signs along the way. Marcus Foster (18/5/2) had 10 points before the under-12 in the first half and hit 4-6 from deep on the night. If he can find a consistent three-point stroke for Xavier, he becomes a huge weapon. Zach Freemantle basically couldn’t be held by anyone, shooting 8-11/2-3/9-12 on his way to 27/10/4. Jerome Hunter (9/5/0) could have had easy double figures if he could make a free throw. Dante Maddox, Jr. (11/4/4) controlled the ball well and looked like a viable backup point option.
Further down the bench, John Hugley somehow shot 1-5 from the floor despite being a toddler bigger than anyone on Morgan State’s roster. Cam Fletcher finally got some extended run and made the most of it, scoring 8 points on his first three shots and looking like he was starting to feel comfortable. Ian Sabourin got a bucket (on a little bit of weight room basketball, if I may say) and fan favorite Bradley Colbert went for 3/1/2.
There’s a huge caveat with all of the stats and numbers coming out of tonight, and that’s that they all came against the 348th-best team in the nation. Xavier definitely – finally – looked the part of a high-major team hosting a program brought in to take a beating. What value there is in that is an open question.
It’s no secret that this game was played in the shadow of the looming Crosstown Shootout. Cincinnati will play host this year. The Bearcats sit at 7-1, with their only loss coming against Villanova, who has admittedly not looked great this year. Somehow, UC has played an even weaker schedule than Xavier has this year. They rank 338th in KenPom’s SOS to Xavier’s sterling 302nd.
In the waning moments of the game, with Xavier leading by 50 and having not been threatened the whole way, my wife declared, “This is hard to watch.” As a fan who has been poking the team with a stick, begging it to do anything this year, I disagree.
Nothing Xavier did in this game could prove anything. The same will not be true on Saturday.