Xavier 63 Memphis 58

With a great defensive effort, valuing the basketball and some timely free throw shooting the Xavier Musketeers won the Puerto Rico Season Tipoff. The Musketeers shot 25 of 37 from the free throw line, turned the ball over only 11 times and held the Tigers to 34 percent shooting (18 of 53).
Freshman point guard Terrell Holloway proved his merit again, knocking down all 10 of his free throws including two in the last minute of the game in leading his team with 13 points. Holloway also directed his team from the point guard spot as the Musketeers valued the ball against the ball-hawking Tigers to the tune of a season-low 11 turnovers.
The Musketeers did an excellent job of containing Memphis star freshman Tyreke Evans, who had 12 points, but had to put up 17 shots to get them. C.J. Anderson was the main man to shut down Evans, allowing him to shoot the perimeter jump shot, and only getting beaten off of the dribble a handful of times by the top freshman in the country. Anderson also added 10 points and six rebounds, as the senior leader was the most demonstrative Musketeer on the night after disappointing showings against Missouri and Virginia Tech in the first two games of the tournament.
While the Musketeers did not shoot the ball well themselves (37.5 percent, 18-48), they made up for it with perfect execution of the Musketeers' packline defense, the forced the Tigers to shoot perimeter shots. The Tigers struggled from deep, only hitting 7 of 21 of their three point field goals.
The Tigers' poor stroke extended to the free throw line, where they only made 15 of 30 charity shots. All of the shooting woes helped the Musketeers start 5-0 for the first time in fifth year head coach Sean Miller's tenure at Xavier.
The Musketeers were able to win the despite not getting much from preseason first team all-conference forward Derrick Brown. Brown only scored one point and had two rebounds against the athletic Tiger frontline.
The impact of Brown's off night was softened by sophomore Jamel McLean's 11 points and four rebounds.
The win was a big step forward for the Musketeers, who entered the season with questions surrounding many aspects of the team. Xavier now has a quality win over a top-20 team on a neutral court on its resume, and boatloads of confidence in the minds of their youngsters.