Xavier advances to a chance to get a Q1 win with a great second half against South Carolina
Holy Lord, those refs were bad. Just absolutely awful. They weren’t just bad, they were egregiously, obviously, made even Donny Marshall notice, bad. At one point Marshall speculated that they were simply guessing. One is forced to assume that just straight guessing would have been better, because at least a coin flip would occasionally be correct. Ok, that’s enough of that.
Xavier was not good in the first half. They shot 11-32 from the floor and 1-11 from deep. They were bad. They turned the ball over five times and looked out of sync even when the bumbling incompetents in stripes weren’t actively ruining not just this game but sport in general. Thank goodness for Dailyn Swain (14/6/2) and Zach Freemantle (16/9/2) in that first 20. They combined to go 6-8 from the floor and 6-8 from the line. Ryan Conwell (13/5/2), usually a constant for Xavier, was 1-8. It was not good.
The rebounding was good. Xavier grabbed 23 rebounds in the first half on the way to having a 30.8% offensive and 87.9% defensive rebounding rate on the game. The Musketeers were dominant on the glass on both ends. For a team that could not seal defensive possessions last year, Xavier looks very efficient this year. After this game they are 14th in the nation.
That kept them in the game during a first half when basically two guys were hitting. Trey Green and John Hugley have been good for Xavier off the bench this season. Today they combined for one rebound in 12 minutes and missed five shots. At the end of the first half X was down five, that a minor miracle after they allowed a 17-0 run, and looked out of sorts.
Thankfully, there are two halves in a basketball game. While that meant 20 minutes that were officiated completely differently than the first 20 (seriously, call your own would have been better), it also meant Xavier could crawl back into the game. Or, they could have. Instead, they came out and blew South Carolina away. A 12-4 run was keyed by Dailyn Swain coming up with two of his five steals and converting both ensuing runouts. Xavier staggered a bit after that, but never trailed again. Good teams win when they don’t play well. Xavier did that tonight.
Dailyn Swain made the difference- Both teams could have used a freakishly athletic dude who can read the passing lanes and has the burst to exploit that talent. Xavier had him. Swain was exceptional to start the second half and he got the team going. When you can’t shoot, layups and dunks help. Dailyn is good at both of those things. He was vital today.
Big Frosty also makes a huge difference- When Zach Freemantle was on the bench with two “fouls,” Xavier looked not very good at all. He came back and scored 16 on just eight shots. When he’s in flow in the post he’s nearly unstoppable. That goofy Murray-Boyles guy surely couldn’t stop him.
Sometimes the shots don’t fall- Xavier is all the way down to 20th in the nation with a 40% mark from behind the arc. Ugh. With that the case, the slammed the ball inside, where they racked up 42 points in the paint and an additional 15 from the line. Even teams that are usually excellent from deep need a plan B. X didn’t knock down threes, but they also didn’t panic.
Veteran teams win ugly games- Not panicking was the key to this one. Even when giving up an inordinately long run mirrored by their own drought, the Musketeers kept their cool. Only two teams in the nation have more experience than Xavier. That showed tonight. The Gamecocks cracked, X didn’t. We’re on to Wednesday.