For a second straight day, Xavier has added a high impact guard to the roster.
As always, we will start by going to Joe Tipton on scene:
NEWS: Indiana State star transfer Ryan Conwell has committed to Xavier, he tells @On3sports.
The 6-4 sophomore guard averaged 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game this season. Shot 40% from three. https://t.co/R6JIeDQdUf pic.twitter.com/nP4FBy8ueF
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) April 19, 2024
Conwell was one of the best shooters available in the portal this offseason, coming off a year where he hit 109 threes at a 40.7% clip on his way to 16.6/5.8/2.5 and Second Team All-MVC honors for Indiana State. He is not solely a catch and shoot option, but he did take 63% of his shots from beyond the arc last season, a mark only Trey Green eclipsed for Xavier, and an overwhelming majority of those were assisted attempts. Conwell almost completely echews the midrange, taking roughly 30% of his shots at the rim, where he converts at a 61.9% rate, which is better than anyone on Xavier last season save for Kachi Nzeh. It bears pointing out that his percentage was not garnered against the likes of Ryan Kalkbrenner and Donovan Clingan, but he posted an 11-17 mark at the rim in the Sycamores’ run to the NIT Final, which was against high major competition, save for SMU. The other thing about his game that seems to point to a smooth transition to the Big East is his ability to get to the line, he had a free throw rate of 31.0 last season which is a tick above Dayvion McKnight’s 28.7, and make it count, converting on 85% of his attempts for his career. While defensive statistics are a bit harder to project across conferences and systems, it bears pointing out that he ranked in the top 300 nationally in steal rate as a freshman at South Florida.
Xavier seems to be in the market for another big man from the portal, but with the development of the last two days Xavier’s backcourt is starting to take shape. Last year, we saw McKnight excel at setting the table for Quincy Olivari and Conwell adds another potent option alongside Maddox and Foster to bolster Xavier’s perimeter attack. After being the 8th most efficient unit in the nation in Sean Miller’s first season back at the helm, Xavier’s offense took a step back last season. Conwell will be a hugely important piece in getting them back among the very best in college basketball.