UD's paltry performance on the glass a major factor in loss

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By Doug Harris, Staff Writer 11:57 PM Friday, March 12, 2010

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — After getting brutalized on the boards by the University of Dayton in the first two meetings this season, Xavier coach Chris Mack challenged his basketball players not to let the Flyers kick sand in their faces again.

They didn’t.

Xavier had a 39-28 rebounding advantage in a 78-73 win Friday, March 12, taking away one of the Flyers’ strengths. UD had rebounding edges of 18 in one game and 17 in the other against their rival.

“I tried to pound home the message to our players that we were outrebounded by 35 in the two previous games against Dayton,” Mack said. “And while I don’t think we were perfect ... win or lose, especially how we closed the game, we weren’t going to be questioned about our toughness.”

UD was the Atlantic 10’s top rebounding team at plus-6.3 per game.

“We did a poor job on the glass. We did not meet that challenge at all,” said UD coach Brian Gregory, scanning a stat sheet. “You go down the list — two, two, one and one defensive rebounds. The reason we’ve been good is because we gang-rebound. If our guards are only getting one or two defensive rebounds, you can’t do that.”

Warren blown off

Still bad blood between Xavier and Dayton? Although the teams met at half court for the traditional greeting after the national anthem, London Warren was snubbed by Xavier’s Terrell Holloway during introductions.

Warren went to the center circle after his name was called to wait for Holloway. But the Musketeer point guard went about halfway, pounded his chest once and turned back to the team huddle.

The rivals blew off the pregame handshake altogether in Cincinnati the past two seasons.

“At the beginning of the game, this was business for me,” Holloway said. “I’m not into shaking hands. I’m into playing basketball. That’s more important to me.”

Offense bogs down

The Flyers shot 53.8 percent in the first half by getting their fast break in high gear, but they were forced into more of a half-court tempo in the second half and couldn’t generate enough offense while squandering a 15-point lead.

They scored just five points, all on free throws, from the 10:37 mark until Chris Wright drove to a basket with 1:10 left.

“In the huddle, I reminded the guys against George Washington we were down 13 with 10 minutes left,” said Xavier senior center Jason Love. “We’ve been in that position before. The worst thing you can do is stop fighting. ... We kept fighting, and eventually they broke, as you saw.”

Free throws hurt

Xavier, which was shooting 70.8 percent on foul shots, made 10-of-11 in the final 82 seconds, finishing 33-of-41.

Even misses sometimes didn’t help UD. When Mark Lyons clanked two, the Flyers were called for a lane violation. He missed again, but Xavier chased down the long rebound and scored on a Jordan Crawford drive.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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