Cincinnati vs Xavier: Crosstown Shootout Preview

Written by Scott on Wednesday, 19 December 2012 20:04.

Tonight at 7 on ESPN2, the Cincinnati Bearcats and Xavier Musketeers renew their great rivalry with the 80th edition of the Crosstown ~~Classic~~ Shootout. They can call it the Crosstown Classic all they want, we know what's up. The teams have played every year since the 1945-46 season. Cincinnati has a 48-31 advantage over Xavier. Recent history has been with the Musketeers however. The Muskies have won 4 of the last 5 and 7 of the last 10. The last 2 editions of the game have been blowouts. Cincinnati hung a 20 point whoopin' on Xavier in 2010, while the Muskies beat Cincinnati by 23 last season. This game will hopefully be a better one than the last 2.

The positive thing about the game being moved to US Bank Arena is that proceeds from the game go to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Record: 10-0

Coach: Mick Cronin, 2-4 against Xavier

Rank: 11/11

Minutes

Sean Kilpatrick 30.2
Cashmere Wright 25.5
JaQuon Parker 24.3
Justin Jackson 19.5
Titus Rubles 19.4

Points

Sean Kilpatrick 19.3
Cashmere Wright 14.9
JaQuon Parker 10.7
Titus Rubles 7.5
Cheikh Mbodj 5.6

Field Goal %

David Nyarsuk 63.2
Cheikh Mbodj 55.6
Sean Kilpatrick 48.6
Jermaine Sanders 48.5
Justin Jackson 47.9

FT %

Cashmere Wright 77.8
Sean Kilpatrick 69.4
Titus Rubles 69
Cheikh Mbodj 61.5
Shaquille Thomas 61.5

3 Pointers Made (3 Pt %)

Cashmere Wright 29 (47.5)
Sean Kilpatrick 25 (38.5)
JaQuon Parker 12 (41.4)
Ge'Lawn Guyn 4 (30.8)
Jermaine Sanders 3 (42.9)

Rebounding

Sean Kilpatrick 6.1
Titus Rubles 5.7
Justin Jackson 5.7
Cheikh Mbodj 4.8
David Nyarsuk 4.5

Assists

Cashmere Wright 35
Titus Rubles 24
Sean Kilpatrick 23
Justin Jackson 20
JaQuon Parker 20

Turnovers

Cashmere Wright 24
Sean Kilpatrick 24
Justin Jackson 20
Titus Rubles 18
David Nyarsuk 13

Steals

Cashmere Wright 22
Sean Kilpatrick 18
Justin Jackson 16
Titus Rubles 14
JaQuon Parker 11

Blocks

Cheikh Mbodj 25
Justin Jackson 15
David Nyarsuk 13
Kelvin Gaines 7
Titus Rubles 3

Record: 7-2

Coach: Chris Mack, 3-1 vs Cincinnati

Minutes

Semaj Christon 34.8
Dee Davis 33
Justin Martin 32.5
Travis Taylor 30.7
Isaiah Philmore 25.6

Points

Semaj Christon 15.7
Justin Martin 12.3
Dee Davis 11.8
Travis Taylor 10.1
Jeff Robinson 8

Field Goal %

Justin Martin 59.6
Semaj Christon 51.7
Travis Taylor 50
Jeff Robinson 50
Brad Redford 46.5

FT %

Brad Redford 100
Justin Martin 81.8
Dee Davis 77.8
Jeff Robinson 72.7
Travis Taylor 72.4

3 Pointers Made (3 Pt %)

Dee Davis 20 (47.6)
Brad Redford 18 (48.6)
Justin Martin 13 (46.4)
Semaj Christon 2 (22)
Jeff Robinson 2 (11.8)

Rebounding

Travis Taylor 6.4
Isaiah Philmore 5.8
Justin Martin 5.5
Jeff Robinson 4.5
Erik Senger 2.8

Assists

Semaj Christon 43
Dee Davis 35
Justin Martin 13
Travis Taylor 12
Brad Redford 6

Turnovers

Semaj Christon 28
Dee Davis 26
Travis Taylor 13
Justin Martin 10
Jeff Robinson 6

Steals

Semaj Christon 10
Travis Taylor 8
Justin Martin 8
Dee Davis 5
Jeff Robinson 5

Blocks

No one on Xavier has more than 4.

Paw Points

One thing off the bat that Xavier is going to do to try and keep Cincinnati close is slow the tempo down. Cincinnati plays very fast at 74.2 possessions per game. Xavier plays one of the slowest tempos in the country at 62.8 possessions. Keeping Cincinnati from running is a huge key for Xavier. Mainly because...

The Musketeer defense is terrible. They are giving up 1 point per possession, 210th in the nation. For comparison sake, Cincinnati is giving up 0.79. Xavier opponents are shooting 41.6% from the field. An awfully high number. A large part of that comes because Xavier doesn't force turnovers, 11.4 a game, they don't get steals, 4.4 a game and they don't block shots. Xavier is one of the worst defenses in the country at those 3 things. Cincinnati is one of the best at steals and blocks.

Xavier's defense is so bad because they give up a ton of 3 point attempts. Opponents are averaging 21.8 three point attempts against Xavier. Cincinnati attempts 21.1. That's something that plays right into Cincinnati's hands.

Another reason Xavier's defense struggles is because they are a middling team on the defensive glass. They are 145 in the country in defensive rebound percentage. Opponents are pulling in nearly 31% of their misses. Cincinnati is an elite offensive rebounding team. UC gets 42.6% of the offensive rebounds on their missed shots. That's 10th in the nation. By pure numbers, UC is 4th in offensive rebounds per game. That is a big key.

Don't expect Xavier to give UC points at the line. Xavier doesn't foul a lot and UC doesn't get to the foul line a lot. On the flip side of that, Xavier can get to the line a little bit. They are a solid free throw shooting team at 72.7%.

Xavier has a very efficient offense. They are clipping along at 1.13 points per possession, a higher number than UC. They are hitting nearly 50% from the field, 39% from 3 and we touched on the nearly 73% at the foul line. Xavier has an effective field goal percentage (weighs 3s) of 56.3, 13th in the nation. Their true shooting percentage (weighs 3s and FTs) is 59.6. That's 8th. For comparison sake, Cincinnati is at 52.6% and 54.3%. Xavier will try to slow UC down, but that doesn't mean they won't score. Offense is not the problem.

Xavier is efficient with their scoring because they don't waste possessions. Xavier is turning the ball over 11 times a game. That's one of the better rates in the country, even when you turn it into turnover percentage, Xavier is still in the top 40 of that stat.

The big matchup problem is Semaj Christon. Christon is the real deal. He leads Xavier in points, assists, and steal. He handles the ball very well for a freshman. I don't know if UC will stick Wright on him or if they will stick Kilpatrick or Parker. You would think Wright would guard Christon, Parker guards Davis and SK guards Martin. Christon is 6-3 and will have inches on Parker and Wright. I think Cash guards him. Maybe UC goes small and Guyn gets a crack.

Xavier does not have a big lineup. That makes me wonder if Mick will go small to matchup. Philmore is a pretty good player, he's coming off a double double against Vandy. But you could spread the floor out with Rubles and Jackson in the game and make Taylor and Philmore have to guard. Mick will probably not do this unless Mbodj or Nyarsuk gets burnt a lot on the defensive end.

The big men need to come up, well, big. Nyarsuk and Mbodj have 3-4 inches inside. They can't get pushed around by the smaller Xavier players. All things considered, the duo was very good against a solid Marshall front court. Let's see something tonight.

I have a feeling that Sean Kilpatrick goes nuts tonight. He was horrible last year with 11 points on 3-12 shooting. He barely played and didn't score his freshman season. It's time for SK to make his mark on the Shootout. All of the great Cincinnati players of recent times have done it. This could be the last one for Kilpatrick, let's hope he does it big.

Cincinnati has not had a senior class beat Xavier twice since Jason Maxiell was suiting up. UC won twice in 3 years, but the 06-07 team was Deonta Vaughn and a bunch of other freshmen and sophomores. That's going to change tonight.

Cincinnati 75 Xavier 63