by Tim Daniel
The Season opens at Cintas Center with a 96-73 win for the Xavier Musketeers over the Morgan State Bears.
Sean Miller's second, first game as the head coach at Xavier was a promising performance for his team, but also gave them a lot to build on as they move forward.
Morgan State was able to force 20 turnovers from Xavier, though 13 of those were in the first half. Xavier had a big lead after the first half, but the game was rather even in the second half, with Morgan State winning the half 47-46.
Souley Boum made his Xavier debut and already has become a fan favorite with his ability to score for this team. Boum finished with 23 points and also had five steals to start his Musketeer career, while also getting a few solid "Boummmmmm" chants from the Xavier faithful. Colby Jones continues to show his ability to be a stat stuffer with 15 points, nine assists, three steals, and six rebounds. The Musketeers also as a team managed to nearly double their opponent's points in the paint with a 52-28 advantage behind solid games from Jack Nunge, and also their ability to attack the rim.
Not to mention, They hit their free throws! As a team, Xavier shot 75% from the stripe hitting 27 out of 36.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Musketeers held the Bears to just 37% shooting as a team, and 29% from three-point land. Though, they did struggle to not foul in the second half, allowing the Bears to get a few more points on the board than maybe Xavier would have liked.
Regardless, the team is 1-0 and has plenty of film that they should like and dislike as they embark on the season.
Up next for Xavier, we will be back here at the Cintas Center on Friday night for a game against Montana. Montana finished last season with an 18-14 record and were 5th in the Big Sky conference. Tip-off will be at 8 PM EST on FS2.
