The Xavier Musketeers opened their season in impressive fashion, dominating the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers 97-52. That was the fewest amount of points Xavier has allowed in the first half since Oakland’s 12 on November 25, 2020. It was also the largest final point differential since Morgan State on December 10th, 2024.

Sansom Sports Media continued our live game notes series, find those here:

The Positives

The Musketeers opened up the season on fire, starting the game on a 13-0 run. Jovan Milicevic opened it up with a three, followed shortly after with another. Filip Borovicanin lobbed it up to Mike Nwoko for the alley-oop to make it 8-0. Borovicanin follows with an easy drive, making it 10-0 Xavier. Borovicanin knocks down a three of his own to make it 13-0. Cintas was rocking and Mount St. Mary’s had to call timeout.

Chance Westry seemed to find his flow tonight, putting up 17 points and 5 steals. Coach Pitino highlighted his positive attitude and persistence following his struggles in the preseason. Chance has been hyped up to be one of Xavier’s stars this season and seeing his talent show on the floor was a big positive.

Nikos Chitikoudis was a force down low, grabbing 11 boards. 5 of those were offensive. Having another guy that can back up the Musketeers down low is huge, especially with Nwoko’s foul troubles. Coach Pitino said that he supported the coaching staff’s goal of utilizing interior depth to wear down opponents.

The Musketeers had 24 second chance points, compared to Mount St. Mary’s 9. This will be a key stat to monitor as competition heats up. Especially, as Xavier has the depth with multiple big men, second chance points will be crucial to winning games.

The Negatives

Despite the offensive explosion, the Musketeers had 17 turnovers. Their play got sloppy at times, and while this passed against Mount St. Mary’s, it won’t fly against high-level competition such as Iowa, Cincinnati, or the Big East.

Mike Nwoko fouled out after just 16 minutes of game time. While he was in, he was great. Nwoko had 10 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Despite that, he couldn’t stay in the game. Once again, fouling out will slide in a buy game. However, it could hurt the Musketeers gravely in a game against tougher competition. Pitino noted that Mike needs to cut down on unnecessary fouls.

Looking Ahead

The Musketeers are set to host Eastern Michigan Friday at 7:00 p.m. Sansom Sports Media will have coverage throughout.