By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
CINCINNATI, Ohio – Consistency was key Wednesday night, as the Tennessee Tech men's basketball dropped its first road contest in a series of three-straight away from Cookeville with a 79-48 loss at Xavier.
The Golden Eagles showed flashes of strong play on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, but struggled to string together long periods of both while still playing with a reduced roster. With experienced guards Jr. Clay, Tujautae Williams and Damaria Franklin still out due to COVID protocols, Tech continued to roll on with an athletic, albeit youthful group of players, many of whom showed flashes of strong play.
"Our youth is showing and our inexperience is showing as well, but we're competitors at Tennessee Tech and won't make excuses for that [COVID's effects on the roster]," assistant coach Marcus King said. "We'll play the guys that are available. We'll work to get better every day and stick to our principles because if we don't, this is what happens.
"Will we get better? Yes. We're going to learn and grow from this. It'll be nice to have our guys back, but it doesn't change how we get to our success, which is control what we can control, do our jobs, and do them well."
Leading the scoring efforts for the Golden Eagles was freshman forward Kenny White Jr., who hit 6-of-13 shots on his way to 13 points. He added four boards while playing 33 minutes. Fellow rookie forward Austin Harvell corralled a team-high nine rebounds while chipping in five points.
Tech kept the game close for much of the first half, before a couple of mini runs by the Musketeers saw the home team take a 35-21 lead into the break. The purple and gold put together an 8-0 run mid-way through the second half, cutting what had become a 22-point deficit to 14, but Xavier answered in turn with a 19-2 run of its own to close the game.
"I was a little disappointed in that we had moments of weakness where we let our focus go," King said. "We'd battle a little bit, but then give up a wide-open three or an offensive rebound. They're a good team. They play in the Big East Conference and are a national name, but our focus coming into the game was to control what we could control. We can control our defensive principles and rebounding the basketball, and we didn't do that for 40 minutes.
"We had some good stretches – we cut the lead to 12 points, but then gave up three open threes. You just cannot do that at any level in any game and expect to win. But, we get to play another one tomorrow. We'll learn, get ready to go and move on to the next one."
The Golden Eagles will have little time to dwell on the loss, staying on the road for a Thursday-night tilt at Northern Kentucky. Tip for the first-ever match-up with the Norse is set for 5:00 p.m. CT in Highland Heights, Ky.
"This is the beauty of basketball," King explained. "If you're a real competitor, you're going to rise to the occasion and go out there and compete. There are no excuses. We scheduled these games for a reason, and most of them were on the books before COVID hit. We wanted to kind of take our wounds, learn what it takes to compete in college basketball and, most importantly, what it takes to be a part of Tennessee Tech basketball."
Photo by IU Athletics
