Men’s basketball coach Louis Orr is no stranger to the Cincinnati area.
The Cincinnati native played and coached high school basketball at Withrow High School and coached first-year Xavier coach Chris Mack for the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons.
The two coaches will meet again tonight, this time as foes, as the Falcons take on Musketeers at the Cintas Center tonight at 7.
Both teams enter the game at 1-0 after defeating a lesser opponent last weekend, with BG downing Wayne State 67-45 and Xavier handling Youngstown State 83-57.
But despite the large deficits, both coaches felt there were things for their teams to work on.
‘The field goal percentage defense was too high,’ Orr said. ‘They scored too many points again our man to man.’
Wayne State shot 45.5 percent in the first half before the Falcons switched to zone coverage, but the Warriors were only able to make one three-pointer in the game.
That three-point defense will need to stay strong for the Falcons because the Musketeers shot well from three against YSU, making more than 40 percent of shots, but Mack said his team needs to finish better.
‘Well, it’s good to get game one under our belt,’ Mack said. ‘Fortunately our guys came out from the get-go and defended like I’ve asked them to in practice. In the second half, I thought we played the score a little bit. We’ve got to correct that. We move forward to Tuesday night against Bowling Green.’
Xavier jumped out to a 48-24 lead at halftime against Youngstown State but only scored 35 points in the second half.
Sophomore guard Jordan Crawford led Xavier scorers – which included five players in double figures – with 14 points. Senior center Jason Love led the team in rebounds with eight and also went 8-for-11 on free throws.
At 6-foot-9, 265 pounds, Love matches up well with BG’s senior center Otis Polk, who is 6-foot-9, 270 pounds. Polk was 7-of-8 shooting against WSU for 14 points, and he hauled in a team-high six rebounds.
After the game, Polk said he was pleased with how well the team – which has three first-year starters – played together.
‘Everyone was on the same page, from starters to the bench players,’ Polk said.’
