Winning all the buy games in the world by 45 is nice, but it isn’t going to move the needle in March when it comes time to evaluate a team’s resume for the NCAA Tournament. To get there, you have to beat someone with substance at some point and Xavier took their first chance to do so with style tonight at The Greenbrier. Mississippi State is not expected to challenge at the top of the SEC this season, but they are a solid Q2 opportunity on a neutral floor and the first line on a resume Xavier hopes to fill out before Selection Sunday.
The Bulldogs grabbed the first four points of the night, but Xavier punched back immediately and never gave the lead back after Tru Washington (21/8/4) put on a personal 5-0 run. Washington was Xavier’s star tonight, but he was far from alone in putting his stamp on the first half as Nikos Chitikoudis (11/6/1) stepped into the void left by Mike Nwoko’s (4/6/1) foul issues and gave Xavier 12 excellent minutes in the first frame. Xavier started to gain separation near the midway point of the half when Ruben Dominguez (9/0/0) was fouled shooting a three and cashed out all three free throws then cut out the middle man and drained a three the next time down to put X up 7 and put the Bulldogs on the ropes. Mississippi State star Josh Hubbard sparked to life to bring the game back to within a point with 3:34 to play, but Xavier grabbed back the momentum through back to back threes from Kalek House (3/4/3) and Gabriel Pozzato (9/1/0) and, after a bit of back and forth, a four point play from Pozzato stake Xavier to a 10 point halftime lead and gave this team a chance to show they had learned from last year’s heartbreaks and could close out a contest.
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In a series of events familiar to people who remembered the first half of the game, Mississippi State scored first and then Tru Washington scored Xavier’s first five points followed by a Nikos Chitikoudis bucket. That pushed the lead to a dozen and a triple from Jovan Milicevic (12/3/0) prompted a Chris Jans timeout and put Xavier in a spot where they were well and truly in the driver’s seat. The test from there was one of game management. Mississippi State cranked up the pressure and tried to make Xavier guard someone other than Hubbard, who was hounded off the litany of ball screens the Bulldogs ran for him all night. The only time it really threatened to get interesting was when Mississippi State cut the lead back to 12 with 14:26 to play, but Xavier responded with a quick 6-0 run to put the Bulldogs back on the mat and it was never closer than 14 after that point. Xavier never took their foot off the gas, forced 13 second half turnovers, and gave the impression of a team that is comfortable playing with a lead against high major talent.
Xavier’s defense has made a huge leap- In the past two seasons, Josh Hubbard has scored 12 or fewer points in 4 outings against high major competition. There was a moment in the first half when he started to heat up, but Xavier’s size and aggression kept him off balance the rest of the night and forced one of the best scorers in the country into a line of 12/4/3 with 4 turnovers and 4-12/2-8/2-2 shooting. It is quite the reversal from getting carved up by guards blow Hubbard’s level a year ago, including TJ Simpkins who had as many three point jump shooters fouled tonight as he did made baskets. Xavier wanted to get bigger in the portal, and that showed in the way they stifled the Bulldogs offense tonight, holding them to 0.8 points per possession.
The depth passed the first test- Xavier had the luxury of being able to play basically whoever they wanted in the first three games and knowing that it was probably going to work out for them. Tonight, the bench got shorter, but they still combined to chip in 34 points and give Xavier some big minutes. Chitikoudis ended up playing more minutes than Nwoko, taking 25 of the 40 at the center spot and was excellent if you ignore the column that tells you how well each player shot free throws. Kalek House couldn’t get his shots falling, not for lack of trying, but ended the night with 4 boards, 3 assists, a block, a steal, and no turnovers in 21 minutes. Gabriel Pozzato only got 12 minutes, but managed to make a couple of huge shots in the run that gave Xavier the double digit lead they never lost. Rolyns Aligbe had a night to forget shooting wise, but 6 rebounds, a block, and a steal in 12 minutes is nothing to shake a stick at and Ruben Dominguez lost his starting spot, but responded with 9 points in 9 minutes on 2-3/2-3/3-3 shooting. It didn’t all click for all these guys tonight, but the bench was a large reason why this one was such a comfortable win for X.
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Tru Washington answered the bell- The biggest matchup was always going to be at the point guard position and Washington definitively won it. Tasked with his toughest task to date in a Xavier uniform, Washington responded by shutting down Hubbard and leading the game in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. It wasn’t a one man show for X tonight, but there was a clear best player on the floor and it was Xavier’s point guard. He was as demonstrative as he was excellent, clearly having taking it upon himself to lead the charge for Xavier in this game. There are a lot of new pieces on this roster, but the guy who has played more games for Richard Pitino than anyone else on Xavier set the tone for them all to follow tonight.
