by Chicagojayfan » Wed Jan 24, 2024 11:51 am
Another gutsy win by the team - now 6-1 in their last 7 in the BE, and 6-3 overall
Offensively -
116.4 offensive rating which is our second best offensive performance in the BE this year, and while Xavier may not be a great defensive team, they have some ability, and they've done well against some teams (really they've been pretty up and down defensively, even while winning).
One mark that's of interest: eFG% of .588 last night, second only to UConn who had a .640 eFG% against Xavier
Defensively:
106.8 defensive rating which isn't our best performance *our 4th worst of the year, but Xavier's generally been doing better than that against the BE. 106.8 is the 3rd lowest for them this year in the BE
They love to run and share the ball with quite a few good passers on their team, but got them to mostly play ISO ball with our drop coverage and they had the lowest Assist% of the season by far for them. We got them to take a lot of tough shots and they made a lot of them, to their credit.
Turnovers:
How the heck was this game this close? I think mostly due to turnovers converted to points. We didn't turn it over a lot, but they scored on virtually every turnover we had last night (most I've ever seen I think!).
Rebounding:
We gave up some offensive boards, but the ones they got hurt (similar to the turnovers). We had the second highest DRB% of any team against them this year and about middle of the pack in total rebounds.
Lots of great performances - Baylor and Trey were outstanding. Kalk was a huge difference maker. As others noted, Ashworth's been playing D. Olivari's been tearing quite a few teams up lately and we mostly held him in check last night - much due to Ashworth chasing him around aggressively. Add in another night w/ a great turnover ratio and he's working his way into shape for this team. Next up - hitting more consistent shots from 3
Miller did his usual job of hitting 3's and hustling aggressively as well, including a hard blockout that led to the foul and the Technical
I think this team is still a work in progress and that they can get even better than they are right now. Ashworth hitting some 3's will add a lot to the team, and a few days rest and maybe a bit of time to let the bench work it's way to seeing a bit more time in this upcoming stretch of games is the next step
time for a bit of a breather and some well earned rest for the team after 4 games in 11 days, including 2 road games and a 3-OT marathon!