by Tim Daniel
For all of the concerns about this being a trap game for Xavier, those worries were quickly taken care of.
Coming off the victory over #19 Ohio State on Thursday, Xavier was wall aware this could be considered a trap game, but that would not be the case as Xavier won 88-48 over the undefeated Norfolk St. Spartans. Xavier not only won this game in dominant form, but they also didn't take their foot off of the gas pedal as the Musketeers cruised to victory.
From the jump, Xavier was ready to end this one early starting the game on a 13-1 run, including scoring the first ten points of the afternoon.
One thing Xavier fans saw that they have been waiting for was Nate Johnson finding his rhythm with his shot. Johnson had been struggling to make his three-point attempts going into Sunday matinee, scoring eight points early and going 2/3 from deep. Colby Jones kept his extremely impressive run to the start of the season going with a first-half double-double. with 10 points and ten rebounds. Jones picked up three more boards before leaving early with an injury (Coach Steele confirmed Jones is fine).
Adam Kunkel had 11 points in the first half on 3/4 from 3, but in the second half, Kunkel had his takeover. In the second half, Adam was 5/6 from three leading to his Xavier high of 26 points as the team cruised to victory.
On the defensive side of things, Xavier was dominant! The Musketeers held Norfolk State to just 27% from the floor and 13% from deep. Norfolk St also struggled to hit free throws as they shot 45%. Xavier also outrebounded the Spartans 51-37.
Wire to Wire:
For the second game in a row, Xavier held the lead from start to finish. The last time Xavier trailed in a game was at the 11:03 mark against Kent St. To put in context, Xavier has either lead or been tied in the last 89 minutes of gameplay.
Big East Dominance:
Xavier has started the season 4-0 which has been impressive enough, but when you look at the play of the Big East conference so far, the respective schools have shown up. So far the conference overall is 31-5 in gameplay for the season.
Up next:
The Musketeers head to Brooklyn for the pre-season NIT tournament. The first game is Wednesday, 11/24 against Iowa State at 7:00 PM. Their next opponent will either be Memphis or Virginia Tech on Thursday evening.
