As Big East play enters its final week, every game matters. The Musketeers are looking to ride some momentum into the Big East Tournament and attempt to get out of that 8/9 matchup, which leads to a game against the #1 seed UConn Huskies. Meanwhile, the Seton Hall Pirates are hanging on the bubble and absolutely have to grab this one on the road. Xavier has been strong at home this year, boasting a 12-5 record, with multiple of those losses being close. The Pirates are 5-5 on the road and are coming off a tough loss where they took UConn to the wire. Hall is currently in the 4 seed position for the Big East Tournament and is locked into the Thursday 4/5 matchup, as long as they can pick up a win in one of their last two games.
Can the X-Men snatch a win and burst Seton Hall’s bubble? Will the Pirates bounce back and pick up a crucial Q2 win? Let’s dive in and find out who will take this battle!
Pivotal Big East Games this week (Seeding)
- Georgetown @ St. John’s – Tuesday at 7:00 PM, Peacock
- Creighton @ Butler – Wednesday at 6:00 PM, FS1
- Marquette @ Providence – Wednesday at 7:00 PM, Peacock
- Villanova @ DePaul – Wednesday at 8:00 PM, Peacock
Last Matchup
These two met back on January 28th and it was a lopsided game. X led by 11 at half and was looking dominant, however as Xavier has done many times, they choked the lead away. Seton Hall proceeded to outscore X by 29 points in the 2nd half, yes, 29. Tre Carroll had 22 points in the first half, and scored none in the second. His statline perfectly represents how that game went for Xavier. Isaiah Walker added a season high 13. For Hall, TK Simpkins dropped 27 and Budd Clark added another 24. Seton Hall outrebounded Xavier 39-27 and the Muskies put up 19 turnovers.
There were two different games played in this meeting, the first half was all X and the Pirates used their stifling defense to take over in the second. Which version will we see tomorrow?
Keys to the game
Taking Care of the Ball: Seton Hall, under Shaheen Holloway has a very aggressive playstyle and loves to play high pressure defense. Last time they met, this style was detrimental to Xavier. They had no answers, and watched their double digit lead fizzle away in no time. If X can limit the turnovers, they can win this game. Hall should remain aggressive and do what they have been doing.
Control Fouls: Xavier and Seton Hall both foul, a lot. Xavier averages 20.9 per game and Hall averages 22.3. Both are sub-200 in the country. Whoever can play a clean game, and keep their opponents out of the bonus longer, will have a good chance at taking this one. A focal point for X is Jovan Milicevic. He has fouled out in seven Big East games and they must keep him in the game, as he is vital for Xavier’s offense. The Pirates don’t have any specific guys to look out for, just keep the general fouling low.
3 Point Perimeter: As we all know, the Muskies love the 3 ball. They rely on it heavily, and it has won them quite a few games. Seton Hall allows their opponents to shoot 42.7% on average from 3, which puts them at 285th in the nation. If Hall can lock down and defend the perimeter, they will shut down a huge part of X’s offense, and force them to work inside. This is a weak point for Xavier. As for X, get open and knock down some threes, know your opponent’s weakness and take advantage of it.
Starting rotations
Disclaimer: These are based off last game’s starters and are subject to change.
Stats are minutes per game, points per game, rebounds per game, and assists per game.
Xavier
- Tre Carroll: 32.4 MPG, 18.6 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.7 APG
- Malik Messina-Moore: 33.0 MPG, 10.7 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 3.9 APG
- Jovan Milicevic: 25.5 MPG, 12.1 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 1.3 APG
- Filip Borovicanin: 30.8 MPG, 10.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 4.2 APG
- All Wright: 22.7 MPG, 7.6 PPG, 1.7 RPG, 1.9 APG
Seton Hall
- Budd Clark: 30.4 MPG, 12.2 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 4.8 APG
- Stephon Payne: 20.7 MPG, 6.2 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 0.6 APG
- Mike Williams: 20.1 MPG, 7.0 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 1.4 APG
- Elijah Fisher: 21.5 MPG, 6.7 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 0.7 APG
- AJ Staton-McCray: 27.3 MPG, 12.1 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 1.3 APG
My prediction
Well, as we all know, XU loves to lose in heartbreaking fashion. I have the X-Men keeping it close and taking the lead late, only to collapse and lose again. Final score: SHU 74-71.
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