BROOKLYN – It's early in the season, but every win matters, and Xavier's men's basketball team found a way to win on Friday night with a depleted roster that was short three starters due to illness and had several others battling through the same illness.
Colby Jones, Jerome Hunter and Dieonte Miles didn't play. Adam Kunkel, who was a game-time decision after missing Wednesday's loss to Iowa State, was able to play.
"I'm not a doctor, I have no idea," Xavier head coach Travis Steele said Friday when asked if his team was dealing with the flu or a virus. "I know it's nasty though and it's very contagious. It's been going through our team ... it's not COVID-19, though, just to be very clear."
There were IV fluids, heads heaving in trash cans, and uncertainty leading up to game time as to who would be available for Xavier when the Musketeers met Virginia Tech at the Barclays Center on Friday in the NIT Season Tip-Off, but when it was over, Steele stood near the tunnel that led back to the locker room and congratulated each one of his players following a 59-58 win that was decided in the closing seconds.
More:Xavier's Zach Freemantle medically cleared to return to basketball activities
Fifth-year senior guard Nate Johnson played all 40 minutes and did so with the team on his back. Johnson went 10-of-14 from the floor, 7-of-11 from 3-point range, hit the game-winning 3 with 25 seconds left and finished with a career-high 30 points.
"Really shows our toughness, that's the biggest thing," said Johnson. "Being down in closing time and us being able to finish and lock up on defense, it just shows our toughness and what we're built for."
Virginia Tech was ranked No. 27 by both the latest Associated Press poll and KenPom.com. If the Hokies finish the season with a top-50 NET ranking, that will be a Quad 1 win for the Musketeers.
'You just find a way': Down 3 starters, Xavier stuns Virginia Tech in the closing seconds
Dwon Odom steps up
Odom started and played 30 minutes. His decision-making and effort elevated Xavier at different points of the game, but none more than on the penultimate possession of the game.
Odom drove the ball into the lane and when four defenders collapsed on him, he swung it back to Johnson on the wing for the go-ahead 3.
More:'He's doing everything better': Why Xavier's Colby Jones is on the road to becoming a star
Odom went 4-of-5 from the floor and finished with eight points, four assists, two steals and two turnovers.
Paul Scruggs wasn't 100% this week. Steele said Scruggs was "gutting it out," and so was Kunkel. Odom came up big in the backcourt and that's what Xavier needs from its sophomore point guard.
The nuance of Jack Nunge
The 7-footer from Indiana who transferred in from Iowa is quickly becoming a cornerstone of Xavier's offense and defense. Nunge made his first career Xavier start on Friday and played 33 minutes. He knocked down two 3-pointers, one of which tied the game with under two minutes to play and finished with nine points and 14 rebounds, tying his career-high.
Nunge blocked two shots and altered many others. He's emerged as capable and dependable.
With a short roster, Steele wanted to play slower against Virginia Tech and the Musketeers were able to control the pace. Xavier made a noticeable effort to play through Nunge in the post and while he shot only 3-for-9 from the field, Nunge's shown the ability to either produce a high-percentage shot or make the right pass when he gets the ball.
If he can continue to be productive, Xavier's going to have a nice one-two punch in the frontcourt when Zach Freemantle returns.
Zach is back
The Musketeers are 5-1 and they're about to get a big boost with the return of Zach Freemantle, who was medically cleared Friday to return to all basketball activities. The fact that Xavier was able to win five times without one of its best players looks really good.
Reserves
Freshman Cesare Edwards played the first meaningful minutes of his college career on Friday. Without Hunter and Miles, Edwards was the only other big man available on Xavier's bench behind Nunge and while he wasn't perfect – no one expected he would be – he made some nice rebounds and contributed to some stops defensively in 14 minutes.
"I thought Cesare was really good," said Steele. "It wasn't perfect. He was physical though. Played hard. I think he has the ability to score the ball, was really, really pleased with his performance."
Edwards made a tough mid-range jumper on the baseline for his only bucket of the game.
Junior KyKy Tandy played 16 minutes and he did some good things as well. Tandy had a nice sequence in the first half where he got a stop on Virginia Tech leading scorer Nahiem Alleyne, then knocked down a 3-pointer at the other end for his only basket of the game.
There was one play in the second half where Tandy tried to duck under a ball screen instead of chasing his man over the top and the separation allowed his man to knock down an open 3.
Tandy didn't wow and he didn't disappoint. That was likely the expectation considering he hasn't seen many major minutes in quite some time.
An appropriate response
It's always interesting to see how a team will respond to a loss. When it was reported a few hours before Friday's game that Xavier would likely be without several key players, the reaction on social media was largely panic. It appeared as if many of the internet's great thinkers had already counted the Musketeers out.
But the Musketeers battled anyway. Even if Johnson's go-ahead 3 doesn't fall, or if one of Virginia Tech's looks at the buzzer would have fallen and Xavier loses that game, the Musketeers responded to their first loss of the season the right way.
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