A confident Colby: Jones shines in Xavier basketball's exhibition win over Ferris State

After a year of pandemic pauses, positive tests, and a Cintas Center that was left largely unrecognizable without fans, there was a basketball game on Friday night and it didn't seem to matter all that much to Xavier's men's basketball team or the fans that filed back in that it was an exhibition game against Division II Ferris State.

It felt like a dozen important things happened over the 40 minutes the Musketeers were on the floor routing Ferris State 100-59.

At the top of the list was sophomore Colby Jones, who's earned a fair bit of preseason praise and publicity based on what he did last season and his preparation for this season – adding 10 pounds of muscle and a daily regimen of 500 3-pointers every morning.

Jones went full-on destruction mode. The 6-foot-6 guard had two highlight-reel dunks, drilled a 3-pointer from the wing, got to the foul line (3 of 4), and he finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and three asissts. Jones looked comfortable attacking and working to get his shot, which is how he needs to play this season. He has go-to potential and on Friday night it looked like he believed he can be that guy for Xavier.

And Jones wasn't the only one with an inspiring performance, but before that, there were three other things that are perhaps more important than anything else to this season's storyline – defense, rebounding and turnovers.

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Xavier checked all three boxes. Granted, those boxes will only get harder to check as the level of competition rises.

Defensively, Ferris State didn't get many clean looks. The Musketeers were active in contesting shots, denying passes and helping when necessary. Xavier held Ferris State to 25% shooting. 

The aggression on the glass was telling. That's exactly how Xavier's attacked rebounding in its preseason practices, clearly trying to correct a noticeable deficit in recent seasons.

The Musketeers won the rebound battle, 57-35, and collected 16 offensive rebounds that led to 12 second-chance points.

It took almost 10 minutes for Xavier to commit its first turnover. There were some sloppy stretches at different points of the game, but for the most part, Xavier took care of the rock which allowed its offense to maximize the number of shots attempted. Xavier finished with 10 turnovers and forced 14 from Ferris State which led to 15 points.

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As for the best performances of the night, sophomore Dwon Odom could make a case. So could Adam Kunkel, who absolutely caught fire in the second half. 

Odom finished with 20 points and went 10 of 10 from the foul line. Kunkel had 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half and went 4 of 7 from beyond the arc. 

The Enquirer will update this story.