Xavier Musketeers basketball opens up in CareSource Charity Classic with win over Dayton

It won’t count for anything when it comes to Xavier’s record, but the Musketeers’ 98-74 win over Dayton Sunday in the CareSource Charity Classic might serve as the perfect confidence builder.

Last year, Xavier went just 3-9 on the road. In front of a sellout crowd Sunday, Xavier showcased the toughness of this year’s squad in a game that felt like a marquee non-conference matchup against former Atlantic-10 rivals.

Here are five observations from Xavier’s preseason victory over the Flyers.

Zach Freemantle, Marcus Foster lead dominant Xavier offense against Dayton

Playing in his first game in 631 days, Xavier forward Zach Freemantle anchored a Xavier offense that shook off early turnovers to turn in a dominant day of work.

Xavier led 46-28 at halftime behind Freemantle, who buried a pair of 3-pointers and tied a team-high with 15 points. He was far from the only one to shine as Xavier relentlessly kept the pedal down on the offensive end.

Seven other Musketeers joined Freemantle in double figures: Marcus Foster (15), Dante Maddox Jr. (12), Trey Green (12), Dayvion McKnight (11), Ryan Conwell (11), Jerome Hunter (10) and Dailyn Swain (10).

“We know the strength is in our depth,” Foster said. “We probably have 10 guys who could possibly start and 10 guys that can score in double figures on any night. That’s the power of it. That’s why I was able to get good, clean looks and drives because each player had gravity.”

Xavier shot 59.3% from the field and knocked down 12-of-26 from downtown and turned a dozen offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points. For what it’s worth, Dayton has not allowed 90-plus points at home since Dec. 2018.

Xavier will play in plenty of tough arenas this season

Under head coach Anthony Grant for the last seven seasons, Dayton is 92-17 at home. Sunday’s charity game was played like a regular season affair and Xavier measured well in several key areas of a mid-October litmus test.

They’ll need to prepare for several more hostile environments, but Sunday was a step in the right direction to winning on the road in the Big East. Before Xavier even gets to league play, they’ll go on the road against TCU in the Big East-Big 12 battle and No. 20 UC in the Crosstown Shootout. Xavier opens Big East play at two-time defending national-champion UConn.

“A lot of scenarios coming up, going through this event, playing this type of game, will benefit our team,” Xavier head coach Sean Miller said. “At this time of year, there’s a lot of ways to grow. You can be structured in practice and build your system, but you have to be able to play 5-on-5 with a crowd and referees.”

Musketeers have options despite loss of Lassina Traore

Through the summer and early portion of fall practice, it appeared Xavier had finally found bliss on the injury front after being decimated by them last season. That was thrown out the window Oct. 9, when Long Beach State transfer Lassina Traore suffered a season-ending knee injury.

That didn’t stop Miller from finding out what he had on the bench on Sunday. Nine different Musketeers played regular minutes in the matchup. Xavier held a 36-25 advantage in bench points.

Miller went to the bench early and often Sunday, mixing up lineups to see what he’s got at the 3-5 spot. There were bouts of small ball with Foster and Swain starting and other big lineups that paired John Hugley and Freemantle together.

“We’re still trying to find something (in the frontcourt). I wanted to put Lassina Traore in,” Miller joked. “We had things pretty solid in terms of size and physicality. With Jerome and Zach, we have great experience, with John (Hugley) we have great experience.”

Xavier fires first punch in dominant first opening 20 minutes

With the Flyer Faithful out in full force ready to cheer on a team that went to the NCAA Tournament last season, Xavier had the early answer. The Flyers isolated big man Zed Key for a bucket against Freemantle on the game’s first possession and it would be Dayton’s only lead of the game.

Xavier shot 63% from the field in the first half and was just as effective on the defensive end in holding Dayton to just 12-of-31 from the floor and 1-of-13 from downtown.

Xavier able to weather the storm

Xavier’s sizzling start and Dayton’s inability to hit a bucket wouldn’t last forever on Sunday. When Dayton found some momentum during second-half stints, Xavier had an answer with an up-tempo offense that routinely produced quality looks.

Dayton had a 9-2 run early in the second half to pull within 15. Xavier had the silencer with three-pointers on two of its next three possessions. The Flyers got productive work from 7-foot freshman Amael L’Etang off the bench over the final stanza and Nate Santos had a team-high 13 points. Dayton cut Xavier’s lead to 72-58 with under 10 minutes to play, but the Musketeers responded with a 15-5 run to pull away.

If there was an area of concern for Xavier it was foul trouble in the second half. Xavier committed 16 fouls in the second half (six in the first), which led to Dayton going 17-of-22 at the free-throw line over the final 20 minutes.

“It (fouls) shows conditioning, discipline and you have to be able to play more than 24 minutes,” Miller said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Analysis: What we learned in Xavier’s win over UD in charity game