They've been playing the same way for the last three or four years. They have good offensive execution and they play hard. They also rattled Vanderbilt with their trapping, pressure defense. Vanderbilt couldn't get the ball inside to Anderson, who finished with five fouls and only three shots. With Anderson out of the lineup, Vanderbilt struggled to score consistently.
Big kids have to realize that they're going to get bad calls.
Their game's different than it is for guards. It's more physical and they have to be mature enough to handle that. Xavier built a narrow lead in the first half on the strength of its pressure defense, which held Vanderbilt to 36 percent shooting in the half. Vanderbilt cut it to 62-60 with 19 seconds left, but Jennifer Phillips made a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left to clinch it. Levandusky led four Xavier players in double figures.