Just one thing here: Xavier Basketball

It was certainly not the most impressive win but there were some good signs from the Muskies in their exhibition Saturday. XU won 74-53 using only 8 players (other than the last minute of the game). Redford's hamstring was not 100% after tweaking it last week. He did not play Saturday but should be good to go to start the season.

Starting Five: Dee Davis, Semaj Christon, Erik Stenger, Jeff Robinson, Travis Taylor
 
Some takeaways from last night's game: 
The Good:
- We survived a game with only 2 guards and 8 players in the rotation. With Redford out, Davis and Christon played 34 and 33 minutes, respectively and they both played well. Still no NCAA decision on Cantino so the front court played without him and out-played the opposition in the paint, albeit a Division II school.
- Stengray! Erik Stenger, transfer from NKU, who is technically a walk-on, lit it up last night! The 6'8" Cincy native got the start and had 12 pts, 9 rebs, 4 blocks, and 3 steals in just 23 minutes on the court. It was great to see this kid hustling and going all out at both ends of the court. I think we all thought he'd get some minutes this year but maybe that will be an understatement.
- 5 Muskies scored in double-figures, Stenger/Robinson/Christon with 12 each and Taylor/Martin with 10 each. A balancing scoring attack would certainly be beneficial this season.

The Not So Good:
- The Muskies did out-muscle Kentucky State in the paint (46 to 12) but new-comers Isaiah Philmore and James Farr were not impressive, combining to shoot 2 for 9 from the field and 3 for 6 from the line. We will certainly need more out of these guys this year.
- Foul Trouble - last year several guys had issues with repeatedly getting in foul trouble. Mack has said that this is something the guys would look to improve over the summer but last night was not a good sign. Philmore fouled out in only 22 minutes and Taylor had 3 fouls in his first 12 minutes of play.
- 3-point shooting - The Muskies went a horrendous 1-16 from 3-point land. I don't know if Mack gave the Freshman power forward James Farr the green light to shoot 3s but he chucked up 3 bricks. Davis was 0 for 5 and Christon 0 for 3.

Overall, the guys played pretty well as a team but the competition was not great. Looking forward to the official start to the season Friday night.

Go Muskies!