Travis Steele and Paul Scruggs have a few things in common.
A year ago at this time the Xavier duo spent much of their time in the shadows. Steele in the one cast by former head coach Chris Mack, Scruggs in the ones cast by Trevon Bluiett, J.P. Macura and a few other now-departed Musketeers.
Both were biding their time waiting for their moments to shine. And now both have been provided those opportunities, Steele as Xavier’s new head coach and Scruggs as one of the leaders on a revamped Musketeers program.
And now both are making the most of those opportunities.
“It’s been what I kind of thought it was going to be,” Steele said of his new gig as head Musketeer. ”Obviously you can’t get too high or too low, especially in this league. Every game is hard and I think any game is winnable so you’ve got to be able to turn that page very quickly to the next game. But it’s been everything I thought it was going to be. It’s been fun and I love the group we have here.”
Steele may just be loving his team even a bit more after a memorable last week in which Xavier rallied from double-digit deficits to post wins over Georgetown and Butler to up their BIG EAST record to 3-2, good for third place in the BIG EAST standings and just a game and a half behind front-running Villanova.
“Those were two big wins for us,” Steele said. “We were down 17 with 4:00 to go in first half vs. Georgetown so it was great to see that kind of maturity and how they handled that adversity. We’ve grown up in that area. A lot.”
It was a pair of wins that just might set the tone for the rest of the season for Xavier.
“When you beat Georgetown, a really good Georgetown team, and a very good Butler team, it gives your guys a lot of confidence,” Steele said. “I think their response to adversity is the response we’ve been waiting for all year. But I thought we had it against DePaul at DePaul (a 74-65 win) as well. We didn’t have that response early on the non-conference. You could just tell, our huddles were different. But I definitely think we can springboard our season from here moving forward.”
What was also impressive about the two wins was the fact that the Musketeers did it without the services of one Quentin Goodin, who has been sidelined with a knee injury. But no Goodin proved to be no problem as Steele simply turned to Scruggs, his rugged sophomore guard and emerging leader.
“I think those wins gave them a lot of confidence,” Steele said. “Obviously Quentin is a terrific player and we’d love to have him out there on the floor. But at the same time it’s the next-man-up mentality here at Xavier. We don’t make any excuses and nobody is going to feel sorry for us. We’re going to get everybody’s best shot and I think Paul and Naji (Marshall) and Tyrique (Jones) have done a great job of leading and inspiring guys and that can become contagious. That energy level, that toughness, that belief. Paul has done a good job of kind of spearheading that whole deal.”
When Bluiett and Macura graduated they took 32 points a game with them and Xavier was going to need someone to come in and help fill the scoring void. One of those key contributors turned out to be Scruggs, who is averaging 13.2 points a game (tied for the team lead with Marshall) after averaging 4.9 points last season. Scruggs is also first in steals (24) and free throw percentage (80%) while placing second in blocks (12), assists (56) and 3-pointers made (26). Not a bad coming out party for 6-3 guard.
“I was just looking at this season as trying to help my team get a W the best way possible,” said Scruggs, who had 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists as Xavier rallied from 12 points down to knock off Butler last Saturday. “If that meant getting on the floor and getting bloody I’m going to do it. So that’s how I came into the season.”
It’s that no-holds-barred, team-first attitude that Scruggs and Marshall bring to the table each game that Steele admires most about his sophomore tandem.
“They are both ultra-competitors, just tough warriors,” Steele said. “They are everything our program is about. Paul and Naji, they are the same guy every single day. That’s the biggest compliment I can give those guys. Practices are really competitive and they spearhead that. They bring it every single day and that’s how they are on the floor. They are two guys you really want in your foxhole. You know they are always going to give their best. They’re going to play hard, they’re going to play to win and they understand that there’s more than just about scoring. There’s rebounding, there’s defending, it’s making the hustle plays, getting the loose balls. Those guys understand that and they are willing to sacrifice for the team.”
And it’s exactly that kind of gritty attitude that Scruggs plans on bringing to Philadelphia Friday night when the Musketeers pay a visit to unbeaten (4-0) Villanova in the marquee game of the weekend (FS1, 8:30 p.m. ET).
“In every practice we’ve had this week everyone’s been hyped,” Scruggs said. “We can’t wait to get there.”
And in a conference that is more wide open than in any other since the reconfiguration of the BIG EAST, Xavier’s motto this season is “Why not us?”
“I do see the league as wide open and there are a lot of very talented players in this league, point guards especially,” Scruggs said. “So I feel if this league is so open then it’s ours for the taking. I really think it could be us just because of the players we have. All of our players are gritty and like to get dirty so, with that being said, we’re going to bring that to Friday’s game.”
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