Xavier overcomes Daniels’ career game to win seventh place

HONOLULU – Dantiel Daniels had a bit of an out-of-body
experience in SIU’s 87-77 loss to No. 14/15 Xavier on Sunday at the
Diamond Head Classic.

Daniels played a bit out of his mind at the Stan Sheriff Center,
putting up a career-high 22 points in 28 minutes, and said he had a
moment where he felt like another productive Saluki forward.

“It felt really good. Everybody was like, ‘Get ‘Tiel the ball,
penetrate and kick to him.’ If I went to the line, I’m like, ‘Ah,
‘Tiel, this is money,’” Daniels said. “It felt really good. I felt
like Mamadou (Seck) a little bit out there.”

Daniels, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound freshman forward, played a bit like
his early-season mentor in SIU’s final game of the four-day
tournament. A 41.9-percent shooter entering the game, Daniels made
7-of-8 from the field and all eight of his free-throw attempts. The
Salukis’ blocks leader with 14, he rejected two more against the
Musketeers, who went 6-6, 6-8 and 7-foot in their starting
frontcourt. Xavier brought 6-10 Jeff Robinson, 6-9 Griffin McKenzie
and 6-8 Travis Taylor off the bench.

“As a true freshman, I don’t think I’ve ever seen just a game like
that,” SIU coach Chris Lowery said. “He was pretty good. He didn’t
miss a free throw. He missed one shot. We’re not talking about he
was scoring over little guys. He was scoring over big guys. He
finally showed his explosion today, where he attacked the rim and
had dunks.”

Daniels nearly doubled his previous career-high of 12 points set
against SIU Edwardsville right before the Salukis left for
Honolulu. He hit his first six shots in the first half, going
3-for-3 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line for
nine points. His two free throws 66 seconds into the second half
got SIU (3-8) within a bucket of the Musketeers (9-3), but the
Salukis could never find a way to tie the game or take the
lead.

Last season’s Atlantic 10 player of the year, Xavier point guard Tu
Holloway, found Taylor for a layup to push the lead back to four.
After SIU’s Davante Drinkard missed a jumper, Taylor was fouled at
the other end and made two of Xavier’s season-high 36 free throws.
Its previous high was a 29-of-37 effort against Butler Dec.
7.

The Musketeers missed only 12 of 48 attempts at the stripe, which
made it nearly impossible for the Salukis to catch up once they
fell down 10 with 10:16 to play. Xavier entered the first bonus
with 7:45 to play and converted 12-of-17 free throws the rest of
the game. Xavier’s 36 free throws tied for the fourth-most ever
against SIU and was the most against the Salukis since Murray State
shot 51 on Dec. 9, 1989.

Holloway made 14-of-15 at the stripe and finished with a team-high
21 points. Backcourt mate Mark Lyons added 17, Walker had 13 and
Taylor scored 13 off the bench as Xavier scored a season-best 87
points. The Musketeers made 24-of-51 from the field (47.1 percent),
3-of-8 from the 3-point line and became the third straight team to
break 80 on an SIU defense that hadn’t allowed anyone to score 65
in its first eight games.

Seck didn’t attempt a free throw in 28 minutes but finished with 12
points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season
and 10th as a Saluki. Kendal Brown-Surles kept SIU in the game in
the first half with two 3-pointers and finished with 12 points.
T.J. Lindsay added 11 off the bench, which outscored Xavier,
33-30.

SIU made 16-of-22 at the free-throw line, and might have had more,
Lowery said. SIU was whistled for 28 fouls. Xavier was called for
16.

“We would have liked to have gotten some of those same calls. We
were attacking the rim just as much as they were,” Lowery said.
“Dantiel, I thought he got fouled a lot, even more than eight
free-throw attempts. He was in there battling guys bigger than him,
and holding his post position and just finishing really
strong.”

todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com

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On Twitter: @Todd_Hefferman