Game Thread: Xavier vs. St. John's (February 17, 2020) Big East Conference Game

[noteggs]

It's hilarious. X has won 4 of 5 (3 quad 1 wins, two on the road) while not doing anything this team can't repeat on a routine basis. In a weird way, this is actually more encouraging than if X was ripping 45% on 3's and taking care of the ball, because we know this team cannot do that consistently. They are winning games the exact way they need to. If you're looking for style points with this team you're a lost cause.

As much as I agree with this post, didn’t we win all 3 quad 1 wins on the road? SH, DePaul, and St John’s. Just trying to make your post stronger lol.

[AviatorX]

As much as I agree with this post, didn’t we win all 3 quad 1 wins on the road? SH, DePaul, and St John’s. Just trying to make your post stronger lol.

You are correct! Thank you - I think I was already counting Saturday's win over Villanova.

[D-West & PO-Z]

And that’s saying something! I do agree with his comments about Naji spending too much time jawing with someone under our basket. There were a couple of times when he didn’t get back in time on defense leading to an easy SJU basket.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah I tweeted this too. When he did it after a couple and 1's that is all good with me, but he was doing it as SJ had inbounded the ball and was racing down the court.

[EastCoastXman]

I was also at the game. The guy in the front row behind our basket in second half in St John Student section was a former St John's player. While it did rev Naji up, I thought he was trying to do too much. Every time he touched the ball the crowd was booing loudly. Very much reminiscent of JP at Seton Hall when he drove the Lobsters crazy.

Also I was sitting pretty close when Tyrique jacked up ZFree. What great teammates!

[SemajParlor]

I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure that was Mo Harkless. Noticed him get in Najis face a few times and I know they showed Harkless on the big screen at the game on the court. Couldn't tell where he was sitting though.

Tu Holloway was also at the game as well

[IM4X]

Good analysis. You saw what you saw.

However, though St. John’s doesnÂ’t have the flashy record, they do have a lot of quickness and good athletes and they played their asses off, really going for the victory.

I go back to the issue of playing with focus and being sharp. We didn’t, and it cost us 20+ turnovers. Nonetheless, SJU deserves some credit for their play. We certainly could have done better, but we did weather a red storm in New York City!

Thanks dash.

You nailed my frustration. Yes, SJ plays fast and does a nice job of being disruptive... and I loved how our guys played at the end, but our players just didn’t look like they were taking the game seriously at times. I think we all could live with a few extra TOs but there were simply far too many inexcusable ones.

Really proud of the freshmen, though. Stepping up big time in MSG. Good to see them feeling comfortable in the venue they will be returning again for the BE tournament.

[IM4X]

I'm expecting them to have some stinkers along the way, the growth in the past few games has been very promising, I'm just hoping it's not a sign of regression, teams that make the dance find a way to get the wins. I realize it's almost deja vu from the beginning of the season, but I'm happy that it's in the win column. It's never easy to go on the road in the Big East and come away with a win, so will take em any way we get him. How about Freemantle though? May end up being our next guy with a massive case of STEEL BALLS. Also loved Kyky driving to the basket at the end of the game, damn he's gonna be fun when he's more polished.

Take away about 5 of the worst TOs out of the 22 they had, and take away a few times where they didn’t hustle back on defense and I probably would have been okay with the other issues. It’s not the team missing a few extra shots or the ball bouncing the wrong way kind of stuff that gets to me. It’s watching X retain X players make more than a handful of really lazy passes that lead to easy TOs and it’s watching easy buckets scored by the opponent simply because an X player was too lazy to hustle back on defense that drives me nuts (as I know it does Steele) because that’s like giving a game away.

I’m in complete agreement with you about Freemantle and Kyky. They played fearlessly and delivered when we needed them. So happy for Zach that he had such a good game just across the river from his hometown -he probably had a big group of family and friends at the game. Zach and Kyky looked like upperclassmen out there last night. A very promising sign for the future, including the upcoming BE tournament back at MSG.

[GIMMFD]

Take away about 5 of the worst TOs out of the 22 they had, and take away a few times where they didn’t hustle back on defense and I probably would have been okay with the other issues. It’s not the team missing a few extra shots or the ball bouncing the wrong way kind of stuff that gets to me. It’s watching X retain X players make more than a handful of really lazy passes that lead to easy TOs and it’s watching easy buckets scored by the opponent simply because an X player was too lazy to hustle back on defense that drives me nuts (as I know it does Steele) because that’s like giving a game away.

I’m in complete agreement with you about Freemantle and Kyky. They played fearlessly and delivered when we needed them. So happy for Zach that he had such a good game just across the river from his hometown -he probably had a big group of family and friends at the game. Zach and Kyky looked like upperclassmen out there last night. A very promising sign for the future, including the upcoming BE tournament back at MSG.

Oh yeah, I definitely agree with that point, we do some mind-numbingly dumb things at very inopportune times as well. We shouldn't have 22 turnovers, that's just sloppy and terrible, and I agree with the points about Naji jawing too much and not getting back. It's frustrating to watch as a fan, and I'm sure Steele hates it as well, I was just simply trying to make sense of the performance. I'm glad we won, it's not a recipe for success, but we won, and right now that's all we gotta continue to do.

Definitely looked like upperclassmen, it's been fun to watch them grow over the course of the season, if our recruiting stays at this type of level and players develop how these two are, we can definitely knock down the door to a Final 4. I'm excited to see them in the Big East Tournament as well, some players shrink under bright lights, and those two did not at all. Hopefully they continue to develop, but it definitely makes me slightly less worried moving forward.

[Masterofreality]

I was also at the game. The guy in the front row behind our basket in second half in St John Student section was a former St John's player. While it did rev Naji up, I thought he was trying to do too much. Every time he touched the ball the crowd was booing loudly. Very much reminiscent of JP at Seton Hall when he drove the Lobsters crazy.

Also I was sitting pretty close when Tyrique jacked up ZFree. What great teammates!

I love Naji, but DUDE!!! NEXT PLAY!!! By mouthing off and showing out, you are playing right into what St. Johns wanted you to do.
Steele HAS to get a handle on that. Players coach, OK, but when this trash hurts the effort and team you gotta rein it in.

[bleedXblue]

I love Naji, but DUDE!!! NEXT PLAY!!! By mouthing off and showing out, you are playing right into what St. Johns wanted you to do.
Steele HAS to get a handle on that. Players coach, OK, but when this trash hurts the effort and team you gotta rein it in.

where is the maturity? Although I was saying the same thing about JP all the time?