Superficially, there were a lot of similarities between Sunday’s 77-66 win over Xavier and the Jays’ 77-65 win two weeks ago in Cincinnati. The scores are nearly identical, after all. The reality is a bit different.
In the first meeting, CU controlled the pace, outrebounded Xavier 41-37, stayed even on the offensive glass, and defended well without fouling — which kept the Musketeers off the foul line. On Sunday, none of that happened. Xavier dominated the glass 45-28, and grabbed 19 offensive rebounds that they turned into 18 second chance points. CU struggled to defend Xavier’s big men without fouling, as Christian Bishop, Damien Jefferson, and Kelvin Jones all played through foul trouble.