The difference between Dee’s weak stats and his actual performance was huge / Photo Frank Victores, US Presswire
After the travesty at Dayton, where the team lacked energy and focus, the Musketeers put together a convincing road win over one of the weaker teams in the conference. As has been the case for much of the season, Xavier won not through any offensive breakout but through their defense, holding Rhode Island to only 42 points. The first 10 minutes of the game (and really the entire first half) could be best described as “ugly,” plain and simple. Both teams really struggled to score. The Rams actually didn’t get the ball in the basket until the game was already five minutes in, and the Musketeers went on a five-minute scoring drought of their own at that point. By the end of the first 20 minutes, the teams had only managed a halftime score of 23-22 Rhode Island, scoring at a rate of 0.676 and 0.647 points per possession. That’s abysmally bad for both teams.
In their failure to put the ball in the basket, though, the two teams were encountering different issues. Xavier was playing patiently, rotating the ball well, and making sure they fed the post, even when Taylor, et. al, might need a few seconds to get proper position. They had plenty of open looks, including quite a few right at the rim. The ball just was not bouncing in their favor. I said the same thing in a game earlier this season: “Great execution, up until the shot release.” Rhode Island, on the other hand, was throwing up a lot of contested threes and mid-range jump shots and while Xavier was able to get to the rim, their opponent had to settle for 8-foot floaters with a hand in their face. If you didn’t see the second half, you could guess which team was more likely to continue struggling on the offensive end.
The first 4 ½ minutes of the second half actually saw a scoring bump, with both teams putting up 10 points in the first 7 possessions. Xavier scored on the interior, while Rhode Island made 2 of their 5 threes for the night during that span. After the second three by Xavier Munford, though, the tight game changed in the Musketeers’ favor, who stopped the Rams from scoring for 6 ½ minutes. In fact, Rhode Island would manage only 9 points for the rest of the game, while Xavier provided steady offensive production for the rest of the game. A one-point deficit turned into a decisive thirteen-point win, as Xavier scored 33 points in the second half to Rhode Island’s 19.
Dan Hurley’s plan for his team was to concede the interior and try to beat Xavier from three-point range, a strategy that worked decidedly well for Richmond and that almost worked for Dayton at the Cintas Center. Granted, both those teams are much better from behind the arc than URI, but with the weakness of Xavier’s own offense and the size and grit of their interior defense, it was probably his best bet. The execution of this strategy failed miserably though, as Rhode Island went 5 for 30 from 3-point range, good for 16.67%. That’s just terrible, almost half even their poor average. If they had shot for their average, which many Rams fans will pine over, they actually could have won the game. But if those fans are more aware, they will realize the credit you have to give to the opponent. Xavier was heavily contesting just about every three-point shot. The Rams threw up 30, yet only two could really be considered open, one thrown up a few feet behind the line off a screen and one off a defensive mistake. The other 28? Victim to some of the most intense perimeter defense I’ve seen this season from what has been a good defensive team.
What made the difference in the game:
Xavier’s defense – As I harped on above, the Musketeers contested just about every shot, prevented penetration to the rim, and generally made the game very difficult for Rhode Island.
Semaj deferring to Mr. Consistency – As Banners on the Parkway also emphasized, Semaj early on was driving to the lane and missing on multiple occasions, while Taylor was not getting involved in the offense. Part of the issue was that URI did a good job initially of preventing Taylor from getting good position, fronting the post to make it difficult for him to get passes. Nevertheless, he was not getting as many touches as he should have, but as the game wore on, Semaj began looking for him more and more, and he went on to score 10 second-half points, in addition to grabbing 13 second-half rebounds. The improved rebounding effort suggests that part of the improvement was actually Taylor’s own increased intensity, but Semaj turning to the one who was effectively producing certainly helped.
Dee Davis’ play – What?! He only went 1-3 from the field, with 4 assists and 4 turnovers? Sometimes a stat line really fails to convey what happened. A couple times, yes, Dee did drive right into traffic and ended up losing the ball, but on numerous other occasions he drove in, drew the defenders, and made plays. He had four assists, but one needs to consider how many times his teammates either (1) missed the shot (as they tended to do, especially in the first half) or (2) got hacked. Dee’s control of the offense was all the more important, considering that Semaj had to sit out at times with foul trouble. His defensive effort was also fantastic, disrupting the offensive flow and seriously contesting everything Xavier Munford threw up.
Did I get what I want? Here’s a look at how my pregame hopes fared:
Feed the post – As covered above, Semaj (and Dee) looked more and more to the post as the game went on, and Taylor delivered. So did Philmore in limited minutes, going 3-5 (FT 1-2) with three rebounds. Zeke was the only player on the team to be involved in 20+% of possessions and still managed an offensive rating over 100.
Make your presence known, JRob and JMart – Robinson didn’t have a strong offensive game, but he had some good moments, and he was involved everywhere in the game, doing the little things like setting screens, making smart passes, challenging his defender, and defending well. Martin didn’t have a great offensive night either, but he was very active on defense (blocking the same player twice on one drive to the basket was my favorite play of the night), grabbed boards, challenged his defender too, and hustled all around.
Limit shooting guard Xavier Munford – Dee was all over him the whole night, forcing him into a 5-17 shooting night. I’ll definitely take that. I mentioned that Xavier would need to watch out for Nikola Malesevic too. His foul trouble definitely helped, but when he was on the court, Xavier locked him down completely, forcing him into an 0 for 8 line.
A convincing win – “All I ask for is a double-digit win against a team outside the [Kenpom] top 150.” I think I got that.
From Staak to Mack 