Xavier Hunts Bison To Extinction In A Tune Up Win

Tyrique Jones turned in his fourth double-double of the season. The Xavier Musketeers used a 14-2 run over the last six minutes of the first have to shoot down the Lipscomb Bisons of Nashville, 87-62 in a tune up for the Crosstown Shootout next Saturday against Cincinnati.

Jones commanded the boards with 10 rebounds.  No other Musketeer had more than four.  He added 14 points, shooting 7-for-10 from the field, including a game opening dunk.

The game was even for the first 14 minutes with Xavier leading, 26-24 when a run fueled by a slashing layup by Paul Scruggs put separation between the teams.  Scruggs scored on a turn around jumper off an aborted drive on the next trip down the court.  Lipscomb (2-5) wore down into a halftime deficit of 40-26.

Bryce Moore and KyKy Tandy contributed 3-pointers to the run, coming off the bench.

Lipscomb scored on five straight possessions mid way in the second half but Xavier (7-1) pulled away with a fresh bench that Lipscomb couldn't keep up with.

Jones watched freshman Zach Freemantle operate in the second half.  Freemantle scored a career-high 15 points and 7-for-7 from the foul line.  He chipped in five rebounds.

Scruggs had 15 points and Naji Marshall added 13.

Freshman KJ Johnson scored a game-high 25 points for the Bison. Ahsan Asadullah scored 18.  Only four Lipscomb players scored.  Xavier had 10 players with points.

"We wore down.  We have three players out and it showed," Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff said. "If you take the first 14 minutes of the first half and the first few minutes of the second half, it was an even game.  They killed us on the glass.  Our youth and their physicality was too much for us."

Xavier got 33 points from the bench.  Lipscomb had no points aside from the starters.

"I have a lot of respect for them.  They will win a lot of games.  This is a great environment."

Xavier rebounded from its lone loss on Sunday a 70-65 decision against Florida in the Charleston Classic. 

"This is just one game and we've played a lot of styles.  That will help us in the Big East," Xavier coach Travis Steele said.  "We had too many turnovers (14).  We have to get that down to 10.  We moved the ball pretty well but we didn't play defense for 40 minutes.  I will look at the tape to see but that needs to be our identity."

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Cincinnati Dogs Huskies In Lopsided Homecoming Win

The Cincinnati Bearcats took care of the hapless Huskies of Connecticut in a bruising 48-3 win on homecoming.

The Huskies (2-8, 0-6) suffered their 17th straight American Athletic Conference loss.

Meanwhile, the Bearcats (8-1, 5-0) put together its seventh straight win since a 42-0 loss to Ohio State in the second game of the season.

Desmond Ridder connected with Josiah DeGuara for a pair of touchdowns of 18 and 15 yards, the first multi touchdown game of DeGuara's career.  Michael Warren scored from six yards out and one yard out as UC took a 38-0 halftime lead.

"It makes a lot of difference in matchup issues. Josiah has grown into doing a lot of different things. It doesn’t give people the ability to pinpoint what’s going on with him. He’s come along way, his ability to be a complete player," Luke Fickell said.

"In the second half, the idea was to go out and play our best so a lot of other guys could get an opportunity. It was really great for us to be able to get those guys in there," DeGuara said.

Ridder completed 13 of 23 passes for 136 yards,  He ran for 94 yards.  Gerrid Doaks was the Bearcats' leading rusher with 123 yards on 13 carries.  He scored on a one-yard run.

Connecticut's longest and deepest drive was 34 yards to the Cincinnati 31.   Darrick Forrest stopped that drive by intercepting Jack Zergiotus.  All of the other eight possessions ended on UConn's side of the field in the first half.

The Bearcats added 10 points in the second half.

Graduate student, Mike Beaudry led the Huskiies deep into Cincinnati territory twice in the second half.  One ended at the UC seven yardline on downs.  The Huskies got on the scoreboard with a 32-yard field goal by Clayton Harris with 5:37 left in the game.

Freshman Jack Zegiotis was 4-for-14 with an interception and -12 yards rushing.

Coach Randy Edsell replaced him with graduate student Mike Beaudry, who played Divison II before going to UConn.

"I told Jack at halftime, you're like a starting pitcher in baseball today," Edsall said. "You just didn't have it.  It's like you gave up five home runs.  Guess what you have to put the other guy in..  You didn't have it today,.  Next start it might be a lot better..  If he's struggling like that.  Get him out. Let him relax.  Get someone else in and see what they could do."

Beaudry led the team deep into Cincinnati territory twice in the second half.

The Huskies lone bright spot was the third consecutive 100-plus yard rushing performance by Kevin Mensah, who finished with 115 yards on 24 carries.

The Huskies wanted to run the ball but UC's front seven was too tough.

"We wanted to be able to run the ball, so we could run play action and do those things but we just got Whipped," Edsall said.  "We got whipped by a better team.  We have a lot of young guys on the perimeter.  Kevin Mensah, Artie Tompson, give you everything they've got. We didn't match their physicality upfront."

Mensah is the ninth UConn rusher to gain over 2,000 yards in a career.  In a dismal season in a blow out game, Mensah was running hard.

"Pride." Mensah said.  "Just go out there and give it all you got; try to motivate the guys; try to motivate the team.  Show them to keep going and if we play like a team, good things can happen."

The Huskies had two defensive starter disqualified for targeting.  The press box consensus that neither was justified.

"I thought the first one (call) was very poor," Edsall said. "On the second one from what I saw, he put his nose right in there.  If they are going to be throwing people out of the game for playing football.  We might as well stop playing football.  The two calls they gave if that's targeting.  Let's stop playing.  I don't know how to teach my guys any more."

Cincinnati Host UConn For Homecomig

It is homecoming 'for the Cincinnati Bearcats and they square off against the University of Connecticut  Huskies.

The Huskies have lost 16 straight American /Athletic Conference games, including five this season.  They are 2-7 with wins over Wagner and UMass.

The Bearcats are 7-1 with their lone loss to Ohio State, 42-0.  Cincinnati starting linebacker, Darrien Beavers, transferred from UConn.  He is a Colerain High School grad along with defensive back Ja'von Hicks.

The Huskies leading rusher, Kevin Mensah, became the ninth runner to gain over 2,000 yards.  At 2,409, the junior has a chance to catch the Huskies All-Time leading rusher,  Donald Brown at 3,800 yards.

The Bearcats are 3-12 all time against UConn.  Cincinnati won seven of the last eight games with Connecticut last besting  UC, 20-9 at Hartford in 2016.

If the Bearcats hold on to the best conference record, they could host the conference championship game on December 7 at 3:30 pm.

Xavier Musketeers Swim With The Dolphins In Season Opener

The Xavier Musketeers looked like they were on vacation in the Caribbean in its first game of the 2019-2020 season.  It was like a day at the beach at least for the first half.

The Xavier Musketeers had little trouble winning its 20th straight season opener at the Cintas Center with a 76-57 runaway victory over the Jacksonville Dolphins.

"We played really hard from the jump," coach Travis Steele said.  "We were kind of complacent for a couple minutes in the second half.  We turned it back up though.  You can't take any plays off in our league.  Overall, we had good effort."

Xavier ranked 19th in the Associated Press initial poll, was able to ease Jason Carter into action.  Carter, a transfer from Ohio University battled injuries during the preseason after earning respect on the Musketeers trip to Spain over the summer.

"Jason only practiced twice," Steele said.  "He was pretty good tonight, not a good as he was this summer.  We got him some time and he looked good."

Seniors Naji Marshall 17, Tyrique Jones 17 and Paule Scruggs 12 handled the scoring. Freshman Zach Freemantle added 11 for the Musketeers. Tyrique Jones and Dahmir Bishop controlled the boards with 11 and seven rebounds, respectively.

"I give Xavier a lot of credit.  He has his players playing hard, Jacksonville coach Tony Jasick said.. They're very physical defensively.  We didn't handle that very well in the first half. We dug ourselves a hole because of it."

Xavier raced out to a 43-22 halftime lead, closing with an 8-0 run in the last two minutes.

Paul Scruggs had 12 points at the half and Tryrique Jones contributed 10 points.  Aamahne Santos had nine points for the Dolphins.

Santos finished with 15 for Jacksonville, tying Bryce Workman for the team lead.  Workman led the Dolphins with eight rebounds.

Jacksonville came back in the second half, outscoring the Musketeers 35-33 as Xavier worked on new combinations getting Bishop and Bryce Moore into the mix.

"We have a lot of new guys (nine newcomers),"  Jasick said. "Obviously we're playing against a team that has a lot of accolades early in the year.  I think we settled in a little bit.  We finished some possessions defensively in the second half.  We would guard and then foul at the end of possessions.  In the second half, we finished more possessions with rebounds that allowed us to play with a little better pace and flow on the offensive end."

"Their were a lot of challenges in this game for us.  Obviously putting a new group together, playing against Travis and his group in this environment, there were a lot of challenges but that's why we do it.  We can see where the team is at.  We found a lot of good things that we can take a handful of good things out of this game."



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Xavier Opens The Season Against Jacksonville Ranked 19th

The Xavier Musketeers are opening its 20th season at the Cintas Center against the Jacksonville Dolphins.  They have never lost a home opener.

It will be the first of four home games to open Travis Steele's second season as head coach of the Musketeers.  Naji Marshall, Paul Scruggs, Quentin Gooden and Tyrique Jones are back for Xavier. They will be joined by Leighton Schrand, who worked his way into the starting lineup as a walk-on.

Schrand's father Ryan starred at LaSalle High School and Northern Kentucky University.

The 19th ranked Musketeers face a Jacksonville team that features nine newcomers. 

Three seniors return to lead the newcomers.  David Bell, Anderson High School grad DeAnthony McCallum and Aamahne Santos return with last year's scoring leader, Tyreese Davis who scored 10.1 points-per-game last season.  Sophomore Bryce Workman rounds out the starting five.

The Dolphins had a 12-20 record from last season.  The Musketeers were 19-16 and 9-9 in the Big East Conference.

The Musketeers won the only meeting between the two teams with a 103-94 win in 1962-63 at Schmidt Fieldhouse.

Jacksonville is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Cinderella NCAA tournament team.

That team was led by Artis Gilmore and Rex Morgan.