This thing was done and dusted before the first media timeout.
After scuffling through a couple of buy games early on, Xavier came out of the gates hot against Jackson State to finally look like a high major team taking on an opponent paying its bills. The Muskies won the tip and Ryan Conwell (14/1/1) capitalized with a three. After a stop for Xavier, he nailed another next time down. After a couple of dry trips, Marcus Foster (2/6/8) scored on a fast break and then Dayvion McKnight (5/2/6) hit Xavier’s third three of the game.
Up 11-0, Xavier was already up through the gears and fading into the distance by the time Jackson State finally got on the board.
This was never a game. From the time Zach Freemantle (21/4/3) hit a three with 15:56 left in the first half to immediately answer Jackson State’s first bucket to the final horn, the Muskies led by double digits. It was a comprehensive beating.
The first half belonged to Zach Freemantle, who was rampant on the offensive end. He dropped 15 points on 6-9/3-4/0-0 shooting in the period and threw in a couple boards and a couple of assists. He was joined in paint dominance by John Hugley IV (11/7/3), who dropped 7/4/1 on 3-4 from the floor in 10 solid minutes. He also punctuated the half with a massive block of Dorian McMillian at the horn to send Xavier into the locker room with a 40-25 lead.
It was more of the same in the second half, as Xavier came out on a 14-4 run that eliminated whatever doubt there may have been left regarding the outcome. After being up 15 at the half, Xavier cruised to a 94-57 win and finally gave Brad Colbert some playing time.
This was a really balanced effort by the Muskies. They made 33 buckets on the night and assisted 28 of them. Six players – Zach Freemantle, Dante Maddox, Jr., Trey Green, Ryan Conwell, John Hugley IV, and Dailyn Swain – scored in double figures, and everyone who played more than 5 minutes tallied at least one assist. Even more impressive was the barrage of threes Xavier unleashed on Jackson State, drilling 16 of 31 from beyond the arc.
In case you were wondering – which, if you watched what went wrong in the first two games, you probably were – Xavier’s own three-point defense finally showed up. Jackson State was just 5-20 from beyond the arc, and the Muskies’ rotations and closeouts were more consistently present than they have been all year.
Dailyn Swain was an absolute hooligan the whole way. He didn’t score at all in the first half but seemed to grab every loose ball and contested board before breaking out for 10 in the second half on his way to his first career double-double, finishing with 10/10/2, 2 blocks, and a steal. He looked every bit of a really special supporting player tonight.
A developing subplot in the season is who is going to be the backup PG, and Dayvion McKnight gave Sean Miller every chance to audition some players in that role by picking up a couple of quick fouls and three total in the first half. Of note was that Ryan Conwell was bringing the ball up when he and Trey Green were on the floor together. That’s not to say that Green wasn’t effective; he dropped 15/1/1 on 6-11/3-6/0-0 shooting and was occasionally unstoppable off the dribble.
The fact that Xavier’s win probability was in the triple digits all night gave the Muskies a chance to get some guys into rhythm, and Dante Maddox, Jr. took advantage with his best outing in a Xavier uniform. He was fairly quiet in the first half with just 2 points, but he exploded in the second, jarring 4-5 from deep to finish with 16/5/1 on 4-7/4-6/4-5 shooting. Having him rolling as another scoring option would be a huge boon for this team going forward.
So, finally, Xavier has made a buy game look like a buy game. Even without the services on Dayvion McKnight for most of the night, they made a beatdown of a low-major team look as routine as it should. There are still plenty of wrinkles to be ironed out, but a talented and deep team took its best step yet towards getting a revamped roster to come together for tougher days ahead.
X will be back in action against Wake Forest in the Skip Prosser Classic this Saturday. We’ll be back with you sometime Thursday with another episode of Banter on the Parkway, available at reputable podcast outlets everywhere.