There was a birthday party in the Cintas Center on Friday night.
Xavier head coach Travis Steele celebrated his 40th birthday with a 73-59 win over Kent State that started poorly but ended with an emphatic second-half surge from his Musketeers.
Xavier (2-0) spent the first 20 minutes on Friday in a state of confusion, committing 13 turnovers in the first half as the Golden Flashes took control of the game with a 36-31 halftime lead.
As Steele was heading back to the coach's locker room at the break, he heard something that gave him hope: Paul Scruggs' voice.
"When I walked back, our coach's locker room is a little bit past our player's locker room," said Steele. "So you can hear kind of what's being said a little bit in our player's locker room.
"I've coached several games here at Xavier as an assistant, an ops guy, as head coach. There's sometimes when those locker rooms are pretty dang quiet, right? And there's sometimes ... they're loud, guys are talking to one another, guys are connected.
"I turned that corner to head down to the coach's locker room to talk with our staff first before we talk to our players.
"And I hear Paul's voice."
Whatever was said, worked.
"We just drew a line. Enough was enough," said Scruggs, who led Xavier with a game-high 23 points and seven rebounds.
Xavier dominated the second half, outscoring Kent State 42-23. The Golden Flashes only scored seven points over the final 10 minutes in the game.
"Where I'm most proud about our group is we were unflappable," said Steele. "We stayed the course the entire game, never flinched."
The Musketeers looked like a different team in the second half. There were noticeable changes at both ends of the floor and the adjustments worked.
Offensively, Steele said, they tried to control their possessions more in the second half and ran more set plays.
"We were able to get the ball into the post to Jack Nunge, who was tremendous, and Dieonte Miles," said Steele.
Xavier used a more deliberate attack on offense and the offense went through the paint instead of lingering out on the perimeter, which allowed the Musketeers to shoot 48% in the second half.
"Then we had 20 offensive rebounds which I was really proud of," said Steele.
Xavier outrebounded Kent State 48-29, and the changes the Musketeers made on defense worked wonders.
"Early they were getting us spread out too much," said Steele. "Sincere Carry is a tremendous guard, he transferred in from Duquesne. He was dominating the game early.
"... We were hard-hedging (ball screens). So we were putting two guys on the ball and then we'd get too spread out."
Xavier started switching ball screens with Miles, who's a 6-foot-11 forward, "and it allowed us to keep our defense really tight," said Steele. "Dieonte is unique. He's got a gift. I've said this before, I think he can be the best defensive player in our league.
"There's not many 6-11 guys who could keep a really good guard like Sincere Carry in front. Very, very few."
Miles didn't score and only recorded three rebounds but his defense changed the game, and Nunge finally got fed in the low post and finished with 11 points and six rebounds.
Colby Jones was once again a shot of life, flying all over the floor for the Musketeers. Jones finished with 19 points and eight rebounds. Adam Kunkel and Jerome Hunter each had nice games. Kunkel had seven points and four assists and really orchestrated the offense throughout the game. Hunter had nine rebounds (five offensive) and six points, and Xavier outscored Kent State by 22 points when he was on the floor.
Xavier's back in action next Thursday at home against Ohio State in the Gavitt Games.
Source link
