First-year head coach Richard Pitino must be feeling better about his Xavier team following a strong showing at the Charleston Classic down in South Carolina.<\/p>\n
Even though the Musketeers (4-3) didn\u2019t win the championship, they followed a one-point loss to Georgia last Friday with a 78-68 win over West Virginia where they made 16 of 25 3-point attempts.<\/p>\n
The Musketeers are now home in Cincinnati for their next five games, starting Friday night against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.<\/p>\n
For a team with 13 new players on this year\u2019s roster, Xavier is starting to find some rhythm and camaraderie.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we\u2019re starting to get a feel for playing with each other and when you make shots, the game\u2019s easy,\u201d center Jovan Milicevic said.<\/p>\n
Milicevic is the Musketeers\u2019 second-leading scorer at 13.7 points per game (behind Tre Carroll\u2019s 15.9 ppg), and he leads the team with 19 3-pointers.<\/p>\n
Through seven games, the Musketeers have 117 assists and are shooting 39% as a team from 3-point range.<\/p>\n
Three players \u2014 Roddie Anderson III, Filip Borovicanin and Malik Messina-Moore \u2014 have 20 or more assists, while Carroll, Milicevic and All Wright are shooting better than 42% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re playing the right way,\u201d Pitino said. \u201cThey\u2019re sharing the basketball, they\u2019re shooting the ball well, taking great shots and doing a lot of great things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coming off a 122-75 win over Division III Howard Payne that snapped a four-game losing streak, the Islanders (2-4) are looking to build on their school-record scoring performance ahead of the start of Southland Conference play.<\/p>\n
Nick Shogbonyo leads the Islanders in scoring at 14.5 points per game. Sheldon Williams leads Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with 7.7 rebounds and D\u2019Avian Houston has a team-high 26 assists.<\/p>\n
The Islanders average 75.8 points per game but also allow 74.5 points per game. They average 37.3 rebounds and are shooting 42.9% from the floor.<\/p>\n
This is Texas A&M-Corpus Christi\u2019s fifth road game in its last six games.<\/p>\n
\u2013Field Level Media<\/p>\n
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