The return home from Maui was just what the Musketeers needed to get back in sync and take care of business as they dominated the Miami Redhawks 82-55.
Going 1-2 in the Maui Invitational wasn't ideal for Travis Steele's team, but the Musketeers left Hawaii a better team than when they got off the plane and tonight was a performance to show just how good The Musketeers can be. "We just needed time. We good now." Forward Naji Marshall explained to the media. Marshall lead the Musketeers in scoring tonight with 17 points and looked to be fully recovered from his sickness he was suffering from last week.
The Musketeers got a big game from Tyrique Jones with 13 Points and 13 Rebounds in just 19 Minutes of play. Tyrique told us earlier in the year he plans to lead the Big East in rebounding and he looks to be right on track to achieve that goal.
Another big part of the game for Xavier was only comitting three turnovers, tied for the school record for least amount in a game. Also Xavier had 28 points off of turnovers and 13 fast break points. "When you watch a team like Miami (OH) you have to take away a few certain things" Coach Steele told the Media. "I thought our guys details to the scouting reports lead to those results. Some of the steals that we had, we were more disruptive I thought we were more locked in, and when Quentin Goodin plays that hard at the defensive end and he's at the point of attack everyone else behind you is going to see. You're either inspring to play really really hard because of your effort, or they're going to take their foot off the pedal a little bit if you don't wanna show that intensity on the defensive end."
Goodin was certainly the anchor of a great defensive performance and will need to show that for the Musketeers to continue to improve. Next up Xavier will host the Oakland Golden Grizzlies of the Horizon League Saturday at 12:00 PM at the Cintas Center. Oakland is currently 3-4 most recently losing to Northern Illinois 92-72 this past Sunday.
