CNATI: Cincinnati OH Sports Journalism

College

XU executes as planned

By Katie Budke, CNATI.com Posted December 30, 2009 3:53 AM ET

When Chris Mack took over the Xavier Musketeers in April, he had a vision for how his teams would play -- strong defense with rebounds leading to quick transition baskets. In short, it looked exactly like Tuesday's 89-65 victory over LSU.

Coming off their two-day Christmas vacation, Xavier looked rejuvenated playing their best game of the season, in a fast-paced, up-and-down -the -court tempo. Their play was reminiscent of the first three games of the 2009 season, in which the Musketeers twice put triple digits on the scoreboard. This time, however, the win didn't come against a smaller, lesser-known college basketball program, but the defending Southeastern Conference champions.

"LSU provides that type energy, an SEC team in your arena," Mack said. "I felt like our guys were ready to play. They were certainly excited based on the opponent and for us a chance to go 8-4 against the toughest schedule in our school's history."

To achieve that 8-4 record, the Musketeers had to execute Mack's game plan. And it wasn't just a couple of players who stepped up, it was the best team effort Xavier has had this season. Everybody chipped in and then some.

And unlike in previous games, Xavier didn't take their foot off the gas and avoided the second half letdown. The Musketeers built a 16-point advantage by the end of the first half, began the second with a 12-4 run and never allowed the Tigers to get within single digits.

"Tonight it was just like we have to get to the offensive glass and get rebounds and hopefully put fouls on their big players because I knew they weren't as deep on the bench," said Jamel McLean, who recorded a double-double off the bench. "Tonight we went out there as a team collectively, not just me, but Kenny (Frease), Jason (Love) and everyone went out there and got rebounds."

Mack called McLean's performance his best of the season. The junior's 10 rebounds helped the Musketeers outrebound the Tigers 54-37. Of their 54 rebounds, 24 were of the offensive variety. In this week's practices Mack stressed hitting the offensive glass against LSU's big men.

To help the Musketeers achieve their goal, Mack elected to go with a bigger starting lineup on Tuesday, giving Frease his first career start. The 7-foot sophomore's career-high 12 rebounds gave him double-digit rebounds for the second consecutive game and topped his previous high of 10.

"It's obviously hard, but it's not as hard as you would think when you have people like Jamel and Jason over there taking away another one of their rebounders, then you have another guard," Frease said. "A lot of the times the rebounds you're getting are just, for me, are the effectiveness of all three people."

Love added another seven rebounds, but Mack didn't let Xavier's three big men overshadow the play of the other Musketeers' importance on the boards.

"I specifically remember Dante (Jackson) mixing it up a couple of times and Jamel was the recipient of Dante's hustle," Mack said. "I remember a couple of times Jordan (Crawford) went to the offensive glass and when you get three of your players going rather than two, it's a lot harder for the opponent to block out three guys as opposed to two. We need our 3-man to go. We have two kids that aren't used to doing that, they've never been asked to do it in their career. Dante was a point guard and Jordan played a little bit of point at IU. If we get those kids going, I think it makes our job easier for our 4s and 5s and they were phenomenal on the offensive glass tonight."

That effort extended to the defensive end, as well. The Musketeers were able to keep LSU senior forward Tasmin Mitchell in check all night. Although Mitchell finishd with 18 points, he needed 17 shots to do so, thanks to what Mack refers to as the "cobweb effect." Much like his team's rebounding efforts, the Musketeers defended Mitchell collectively and ensured he didn't have an open lane for an easy basket.

Sophomore Terrell Holloway rebounded from his disappointing performance against Miami of Ohio by dishing out six assists, grabbing three steals, avoiding turnovers and leading the Musketeers with 20 points. Holloway was among five Musketeers in double figures.

"That's just the plan that we have against everyone we play," Holloway said. "We want to get the ball ahead and try to run because we have some great guys on the team that can make plays in the open field. "

Categories: College, Featured Stories, Men's Basketball, News, Xavier Musketeers

Tags: Chris Mack, Jamel McLean, Jason Love, Kenny Frease, LSU, Terrell Holloway, Xavier