Xavier post game thread.

[JohnnyJr]

Good win giving up 20 offensive rebounds is crazy

 

[MJKI]

Free throws….



Also hat tip to Jaylin Stewart. Not much in the box score but his D was invaluable today.

Stewie held his own. Missed a switch on a ball screen in the first half leading to a wide open three and was worried he’d be glued to the bench but Hurley kept going back to him. Showed a lot of confidence in the young man

 

[Palatine]

 

[REB1094]

Congrats to Coach Hurley for another close Q1 win

really hard to win on the road as we learned from AP #1, 2, 3, 5 this week

Cam never breaks a light jog and scored 19. Also maybe saved the game by getting a strip after the late turnover with 1min left. Love having him

Good -

• Newton was a changed man in the second half. 16/11/6 after a rough start
• Fantastic production from Diarra!
• The guards did amazing battling for boards during the small ball lineup. That fight was missing for most of the game
• Castle had 12/8/6/2blk. Wow.

Bad - refs were really bad for both teams. Sorry, I’m going to complain today

• Gave up 18 offensive rebounds. Ouch.
• Almost a REALLY bad meltdown because we stopped playing and just dribbled out the clock for 4 minutes
• Castle gets nearly put in a chokehold and tackled to the ground, but Stewart gets a T?
• Karaban got elbowed in the face and had to come out for 7 minutes because he was bleeding too much to play. He got called for a shooting foul on that play.

Xavier shoots a miserable 71.7% on FTs. Kudos to them for making 81.5% at 22-27. Olivari had a great game. But at the end of the day, UConn punched back every time. Go Huskies!

 

[TheShot1990]

What they’re sayin about us. Unaltered quotes from xavierhoops:

Pregame:
Without Clingan and at home, X wins.
X 75
UConn 72

Muskies 72
Huskies 70

X 76
Bobby Hurley 75

There is no Big East team I dislike more than Yukon so I hope for an upset but I would not bet on one.
Yukon 74
X 70

Xavier 74
Insurance Adjusters 68

X matches up well with them without Clingan...Big opportunity this week for X.

No doubt the absence of Clingan is significant both because of who he is and that he attacks our main weakness. But I do not think we match up with Karaban who has taken a big leap. Another case of really missing Hunter.

Game:
Them starting out 4-5 from 3 is not great,

The talent difference is so clearly seen.

Harlem Globetrotters vs Generals. Hope UConn gets normal shooting #s soon.

Ciani can beat karraban. Take advantage!

Feed the post. UConn can't defend X post players shockingly. Why is Miller playing 3 frosh all at same time?

With no clingnan, UConn can be exploited. Have to play better d though

wtf kind of call is that? If anything that’s on Karen karraban

That was the worst call ever! Hooking on Karaban

Stfu Hurley. Your team has been getting calls the whole half

Right there… withstood the ridiculous UConn shooting the first five minutes. Got to come out in the first four minutes of this second half with intensity.

Flip the script! I only hear announcers say it was not a foul on Ousmane when Karaban hooked him.

Their roster is simply better than ours.....and no Clingan.

Oh no, we suck again.

Harlem Globetrotters have too many top 50 recruits, shooters, and ballers.

Karaban is a btch. Big East buddy.. grow a pair

Had a chance at the end to really tighten UConn’s butthole and missed another wide open layup.

 

[stickybuddy]

Diarra deserves the game ball

 

[ThabeetDown]

Hass Diarra. 6th man of the year. That is all.

 

[UConNick]

Cyclones going category 5 against Houston. Up 14-3 coming out of the under 12. Hope they finish the job so we have a shot to pass UH in the polls.

Obviously, we all know April is more important, but I doubt I’m the only one who really really really wants to see UConn with a “1” next to its name in the polls again.

Road wins in power conferences are freaking hard to get. Great showing.

If we take care of Georgetown on Sunday, it’s a distinct possibility… not that we’re the best team in the country without Clingan (with him we’ve got a hell of an argument), and all three of the teams in front of us will have their own feasible arguments. But traditional poll principles dictate, you lose, you drop…

 

[ucp990411]

I thought Hassan was the player of the game. He slowed down Olivari in the 2nd half. Olivari scored mainly against guys not named Hassan when they switched

 

[Palatine]

Castle 12 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds. And he looks like he's doing nothing.

 

[husky429]

Alex is going to have a crappy night. Cuts on the eyebrows like that hurt like hell. Maybe our players should start putting vaseline on the eyebrows like boxers.

Solid game from Castle. Unstoppable at the rim, great defense, great passing. Hustle plays too.

Newton has gotta figure out his finishing and made some bonehead moves in crunch time but looked really good otherwise.

Cam did Cam things.

Good minutes for Jaylin.

Solo is in a little funk.

Diarra really did work for a 5-8 minite stretch there. Totally changed the momentum. MIP.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Steph got a bucket pretty much every time he drove. It just happened about 6 times less than it should.

 

[Kitaman]

This team is having fun out there, which means they are united. That's what you want to see on the road and in January.

 

[willie99]

A perfect game. A road win in conference, Hurley wins a close game, and they covered the spread.

And yet every naysayer can point to areas where UConn straight out sucked tonight.

And they'd be right too.

 

[Deepster]

This is a win that, when fully healthy, will pay off in the postseason. We can’t live all year with the small lineup in crunch time but it’s nice to know we can win with it.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Wow I love the Big East (and I’m a football man too).

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Alex is going to have a crappy night. Cuts on the eyebrows like that hurt like hell. Maybe our players should start putting vaseline on the eyebrows like boxers.

Solid game from Castle. Unstoppable at the rim, great defense, great passing. Hustle plays too.

Newton has gotta figure out his finishing and made some bonehead moves in crunch time but looked really good otherwise.

Cam did Cam things.

Good minutes for Jaylin.

Solo is in a little funk.

Diarra really did work for a 5-8 minite stretch there. Totally changed the momentum. MIP.

Solo really needs to add to his game. He’s obviously been passed on by Diarra, no shame there. But Diarra does the little things, Solo needs to as well. Sitting on the perimeter waiting for an open look just ain’t gonna cut it.

 

[Scrappy3]

Game was not as close as final score/ We went into a prevent defense +14 and a lot went foul. A win is a win no matter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[superjohn]

That Xavier crowd was awesome. I kind of love their program and Sean Miller is just perfect for them.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Good win giving up 20 offensive rebounds is crazy

I felt like at least a third of those were shots just taking a weird bounce and landing in their lap.

 

[auror]

Looking forward to Cam Spencer not making weekly honor roll again.

 

[Gutter King]

2nd half defensive intensity was nice to see. Common theme has been the teams overall quality of play improves while Diarra is in.

Once we got up 16 with 5ish left, we ran some pretty pitiful offense. Just sucked the air out of the ball.

Missed the front end of three 1-and-1s and outscored badly in a game (for once) that felt even enough on the whistle.

J-Stew worked hard in our small lineups and earned a bunch of PT.

27 ast / 32 fg. That'll do.

 

[Spaceman213J]

I still don't get the no call on the shot to Karaban's head. It's one thing when a guy is sticking his nose in the players space. It looked like Karaban was up pretty straight up and the elbow came into his space. I know the way the rule reads this year, but players still need to be protected. I guess the NCAA doesn't care about concussions this year.

The other thing I don't get is the arm lock. Ellis said he thought Karaban should have been called for a foul too, for hooking after. When you are hooked like that, it is instinct to lock your arm up. Otherwise, you're going to get your arm dislocated or broken. Just thought it was a dumb take by the announcer.

Still, they scrapped and they won. They will be sore tomorrow, but they get out of Cincy with a win.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Solo really needs to add to his game. He’s obviously been passed on by Diarra, no shame there. But Diarra does the little things, Solo needs to as well. Sitting on the perimeter waiting for an open look just ain’t gonna cut it.

It’s going to be so hard for him to learn how to attack during Big East play at this point. Way too physical.

 

[aceboon]

Nice solid minutes from Stewart as the lone big when Alex got slashed and Samson was in foul trouble. Had another great cut to the basket and was hit this time but unfortunately couldn't hang onto to the pass. I know Castle can guard up to the 4 but Stewart should be able to carve out a few minutes as Karaban's backup even when Clingan returns. He knows how to play.