Xavier University Athletics
Love Lifting Musketeers
01.20.09 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2009
By Adam Kiefaber
CINCINNATI - With 12:57 left in the first half, junior Jason Love picked up his second foul.
Obtaining that dreaded second first half foul means that the guilty party better be ready to sit on the bench and that is just what Love did, as he went into halftime with zero points and one rebound in only seven minutes of play.
Fortunately for him, his team held a 39-22 advantage over the La Salle Explorers at the break.
Love kept his head in the game and Xavier would eventually lead by as much 22 points in the second half.
After building that lead, Xavier hit only one of its five free-throw attempts and La Salle was able to cut the lead to 12 with 2:50 left to play.
That was all before Love would score six unanswered points to put the finishing touches on a 73-53 win over the Explorers on. The win improved the Musketeers' record to 15-2 overall and 4-0 against the Atlantic 10.
In the win, Love was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, while his teammates were far from perfect and made only 39.2 percent (11-of-28) of their attempts from the foul stripe.
"As everyone around him seemed to be crumbling, he really, at a time of need, stepped up and played a great game," Xavier head coach Sean Miller said.
Love finished the game with 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocks in 19 minutes of playing time.
His high level of play has been apparent of late, as Love has really improved since the beginning of conference play. In Xavier's four A-10 wins, Love is averaging 10.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He has also made an impressive 91.7 percent (22-of-24) of his free throws during that stretch.
In comparison, in non-conference games, Love is averaging six points, 6.2 rebounds and is shooting 73.2 percent (30-of-41) from the free-throw line.
"In the Atlantic 10 he has been terrific," Miller said. "In the four games that we have played I would have to think he is one of the better frontcourt players in our conference. Thinking about how far he has come, that's a great story."
As a freshman, Love came to Xavier weighing almost 290 pounds. His hard work and determination has allowed him to cut his body fat level down by 10 percent and his weight to his current listed amount of 255 pounds.
"A lot of players year round stick out and the one place that Jason Love sticks out is just his incredible work ethic," Miller said. "He is as diligent and hard of a worker year round as I have seen and what he has done with his body from the moment he has gotten to Xavier until now is nothing short of amazing."
According to Miller, that work ethic has also allowed Love to become the team's best defender, which is a strong statement when you consider XU is currently first in the conference in defensive field goal percentage (opponents only shooting 37 percent against XU).
"Jason Love is a winner. Every coach in the country would love to have him on their team. His value isn't as apparent to fans because he is by far our team's best defender. He defends the right way on almost every possession," Miller said.
Next up for Love and the Musketeers is a road contest against Saint Bonaventure. The tip-off will be at 7 p.m. this Wednesday night.
The Bonnies feature five players that averaged 10 or more points.
Leading the way is freshman Jonathan Hall, who is averaging 13.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.
Fellow freshman Andrew Nicholson is second in scoring with 12.6 points a game and is also averaging 5.9 rebounds.
Juniors Chris Matthews (11.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.5 apg), Ray Blackburn (10.2 ppg, 3.3 apg, 2.8 rpg) and Maurice Thomas (10 ppg, 6.7 rpg) round out the other notables.
The game will be televised live on Fox Sports Ohio with the "Musketeers Live" pre-game show starting at 6:30 p.m.
