CINCINNATI – Old Dominion men’s basketball could not overcome a slow start on Tuesday night at the Cintas Center as the Monarchs fell 99-69 to Xavier.
“I feel bad for the people supporting us that, collectively, from me all the way down, that that’s the performance we put on tonight. I apologize,” ODU head coach Mike Jones said afterwards.
“We came out not ready to play,” continued Jones. “We didn’t have the energy that we needed at the start of the game, and that has not been an issue for us this season. I truly felt that we were prepared and had a good game plan. As crazy as it sounds, I really felt like this was a winnable game, as good as they have the ability to be. We just didn’t answer the call tonight, and that’s so frustrating.”
Four Monarchs finished in double figures, led by LJ Thomas with 13 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the floor and a perfect 5-for-5 at the free-throw line. Drew McKenna made 2-of-3 shots from distance and finished with 12 points, and Robert Davis Jr. and Caelum Swanton-Rodger contributed 10 points each.
ODU shot 41.9% (26-for-62) in the game, 27.8% (5-for-18) from beyond the arc, and 66.7% (12-for-18) at the free-throw line.
Swanton-Rodger opened the scoring with a fastbreak layup at the 19:00 minute mark, but that would be the only lead for the Monarchs, who fall to 2-3 with the loss. The Musketeers (3-2) responded with seven unanswered points before Donovan Raymond got his layup to fall with 15:28 on the clock. Xavier’s Jovan Milicevic knocked down a triple and Filip Borovicanin followed with a fastbreak bucket before Thomas was fouled. He proceeded to make both of his shots at the line as ODU trailed 12-6 with just under 14 and a half minute to go in the half.
But the deficit only grew from there as the Musketeers capitalized on multiple ODU turnovers. A three ball from All Wright capped off a 9-0 run by the hosts as they pulled ahead, 21-6 with 12:54 left.
With ODU down 30-10, Thomas created some spark for the offense as he sank a pair of free throws, scored a jumper in the paint, and added a layup. Davis Jr. continued the 9-0 stretch with a triple from the top of the arc, cutting the deficit to 30-19 at the 6:21 mark. The Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year then made a jumper and a second three ball to cut into the Xavier lead, 32-24.
Thomas was fouled on his make at the 4:21 mark and completed the traditional three-point play to get ODU to within 38-27, but three-pointers by T Carroll and Milicevic helped Xavier pull away again for a 51-29 halftime lead.
Swanton-Rodger opened the second half with a couple of dunks and Thomas scored on a fast-break opportunity, but Borovicanin and Milicevic connected for two more triples to make it 57-35 with 17:44 to go. Swanton-Rodger then made a jumper in the paint and KC Shaw made a pair of free throws to cut the Xavier lead to 57-39 with 16:41 left.
The Monarchs couldn’t put together any significant runs though, while Xavier made another four threes to go up 77-45 at the 10:54 mark. McKenna had consecutive makes from long range with less than five and half minutes remaining and Zacch Wiggins added another three at the 3:32 mark. The pair scored a couple of layups down the stretch and Jordan Battle made a couple of free throws in the final minute to round out the scoring.
Xavier, who had come into the game shooting 32.4% from distance and averaging 8.2 threes per contest, finished with a season-high 16 on 36 attempts. The Musketeers also shot 45.8% (33-for-72) from the floor and 70.8% (17-for-24) at the line.
The hosts turned 14 ODU turnovers into 24 points and also edged the Monarchs in second-chance points (23-9), fast break points (25-11), and production off the bench (29-23). The Musketeers won the battle on the glass, 48-28.
Asked what stood out to him on the stat sheet, Jones pointed to the rebounding battle.
“To get our butt kicked on the backboard like that, that is not who we are. That’s not who we’ve been. They dominated us there, and then to give up 16 threes. They’ve got plenty of guys on that team that can make shots, but thus far in the season had not been making shots.
“Our approach tonight was doing the best job we could to keep the ball out of the middle. We didn’t do that early, and they got to the basket when they wanted to. And then when we did do a better job of keeping them out of the lane, they just started stroking threes. We didn’t close the way we’ve been coaching them to close, and we didn’t execute our game plan tonight.”
The game had just one tie and one lead change, with Xavier leading for all but 13 seconds.
Up Next
ODU returns to Chartway Arena this Friday, Nov. 21 when the Monarchs will host Morgan State. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
“This is the schedule we made. We knew we were going to challenge ourselves, and all of this is supposed to be preparing us to have one hell of a Sun Belt season. And that hasn’t changed. But we can’t perform that way, and I can’t coach that way. We’re a much better team than that, with a lot more goals and abilities to achieve those goals. We’ve got to get back to work, and I truly look forward to doing that again.”