No. 22 Xavier aims to keep its perfect record intact Monday night in Fort Myers, Fla., when it takes on South Carolina in the Fort Myers Tip-Off.
The Musketeers (5-0) are coming off an 80-55 victory on Wednesday over Siena, while the Gamecocks (3-2) beat Mercer on Thursday 84-72.
Against Mercer, South Carolina sank a season-best 12 3-pointers — tied for the fourth-most in a single game under third-year coach Lamont Paris. Jamarii Thomas, a senior transfer from Norfolk State, had 19 points and swished 4 of 5 shots from behind the arc.
“Thomas got some good, clean looks,” Paris said. “It was good to see those guys make their shots. Hopefully it gets those guys going in the right direction.”
On the season, the Gamecocks are making 7.8 3-pointers per game and shooting 32.5 percent from deep. Senior guard Jacobi Wright makes a team-best 1.8 3-pointers per game and shoots 37.5 percent from behind the arc. At 13.0 ppg, he is second on the team behind Collin Murray-Boyles (15.8).
Xavier is allowing eight makes from deep per game and is letting opponents shoot 38.5 percent from behind the arc, which ranks 337th in the country. And despite an undefeated record so far for the Musketeers, third-year coach Sean Miller is worried about his players developing bad habits.
“We have a virus that everybody is looking at the stat sheet, trying to get as many points as they possibly can,” Miller said after the win over Siena. “They want to win, but they really want to win and score. We need a couple of guys that are willing to rebound, defend, make the extra pass, play at a high level defensively and understand what makes a team great.”
Marcus Foster did a decent job of doing a little bit of everything for Xavier against Siena, piling up 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and a steal. It was the first double-digit scoring outing for Foster — a grad transfer from Furman — in a Xavier uniform.
Since 2008, Xavier is 25-11 against teams from the Southeastern Conference, but it hasn’t played South Carolina in that stretch.
–Field Level Media
