Dwon Odom's Career High Leads No. 22/25 Xavier to Win Over Marquette in BIG EAST Opener

Saturday, December 18

Cincinnati, Ohio

4 p.m.

Xavier University

11-1,1-0Big East

Marquette

8-4,0-1Big East

Marquette

Xavier

Dwon Odom's Career High Leads No. 22/25 Xavier to Win Over Marquette in BIG EAST Opener

12.18.21 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photos Box Score

Odom scores 19 to lead four Musketeers in double figures

By: Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - Dwon Odom's career high 19 points led four Musketeers in double figures as No. 22/25 Xavier picked up the 80-71 win over Marquette at Cintas Center on Saturday afternoon.

Odom went 8-of-9 from the floor to top his previous career high of 14 points. Nate Johnson scored 17, Jack Nunge finished with 13 points to go with 12 rebounds for a double-double and Colby Jones added 11 to help the Musketeers open up BIG EAST play at 1-0 and move to 11-1 overall. Marquette moved to 8-4 overall and 0-1 in BIG EAST play.

FIRST HALF

Marquette hit the first shot, and the two teams traded baskets over the first five minutes, with the Golden Eagles staying in front.
Four straight points for the Musketeers gave Xavier its first lead, 14-13, at the 14:47 mark, but Marquette responded with an 13-3 run to take a nine-point lead, 26-17, with 10 minutes remaining before halftime.
Xavier outscored Marquette 16-4 over the next six minutes, with eight of those points coming from Dwon Odom, to retake the lead and go ahead by three, 33-30, before going into the break up 38-36.
Odom went 5-of-5 from the floor in the first half for a team-high matching 10 points.
Nate Johnson had 10 points in the first half, hitting a pair of threes and going 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
Jack Nunge had a team-high seven rebounds as the Musketeers took a 21-19 advantage on the boards into halftime. Both teams had 16 defensive rebounds but Xavier held a 5-3 advantage on the offensive glass.
Marquette hit six threes in the first half (6-14) while the Musketeers hit three (3-10) but Xavier held a 22-12 advantage on points in the paint and 11-2 advantage on fast break points.

SECOND HALF

Xavier opened up the second half by outscoring the Golden Eagles 12-4 to build the lead out to 10, 50-40, the biggest lead of the game for either team to that point.
An 8-2 Marquette run cut the Xavier lead down to four, 52-48, with 14:07 to play, as close as the Eagles would get until the final minutes of the game.
Xavier extended the lead to as many as nine, 69-60, with six minutes to play in the game before MU went on a 9-1 run to pull within one, 70-69, with 3:03 to play, as close as the Golden Eagles had been since the closing minutes of the first half.
The Musketeers scored the next six points, starting a 10-2 run to close out the game to set the final score at 80-71 in favor of Xavier.
Dwon Odom went 3-of-4 from the floor for a team-high nine points.
Jack Nunge scored eight points to go with five rebounds in the second half.
Nate Johnson hit a pair of three, finishing with seven second half points.
Zach Freemantle grabbed a team-high six rebounds as the Musketeers finished with a 24-20 advantage on the boards in the second half.

NOTABLES

Dwon Odom finished with a career-high 19 points to lead the Musketeers. Odom shot 8-of-9 from the floor to top his previous career high of 14 points, set on 2-10-2021 against Butler.
Nate Johnson connected on four three pointers and went 5-of-6 from the free throw line to finish with 17 points.
Jack Nunge added 13 points and grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
Colby Jones added 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Xavier finished with a 45-39 advantage on the boards, led by Nunge's 12 and Zach Freemantle's nine. Xavier held a 13-6 advantage on the offensive glass.
Marquette connected on nine threes (9-26) compared to five for the Musketeers (5-18) but Xavier held the 44-28 advantage on points in the paint and a 17-6 advantage on fast break points.

UP NEXT

The Musketeers head to Villanova, Pa. for the first BIG EAST road trip of the season, facing the Villanova Wildcats on Tuesday, December 21 at Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off with the Wildcats is set for 7:00 p.m. on FS1.

HIGHLIGHTS