Xavier is contractually obligated to play this game, but all eyes are now on the MSG.
Well, here we are at the end of all things. When the schedule came out this game looked like it could be a pivotal battle between teams determined to get a protected seed in the Big East tournament. A month ago it looked like a chance for Xavier to shore up a flagging resume. Today it looks like something to be endured. Marquette will finish second or third in the Big East. Xavier also participated this year.
The walking ER that is the Xavier roster has fought valiantly, but mene mene has started to be scratched by an invisible hand. Coach Miller has resorted to using Brad Colbert in regular game situations because there is no one else. Dailyn Swain is the latest Musketeer to be shelved. He seems to be recovering well, but he’s not going to be playing anytime soon. To make the big dance Xavier will have to win four straight next week. The goal in this game is to get there healthy.
Team fingerprint
Marquette makes their bones on defense, where their rotations are aided by their manic coach, Shaka Smart, hitting defensive slides, getting his hands up, and sprinting to close the baseline. He’s an active defender if not exactly a legal one. The other five aren’t so shabby either, as the Golden Eagles force more turnovers than any other team in the Big East. They do give up a lot of offensive rebounds, but teams struggle to get to that point very often. Marquette is only 9-7 when a team shoots over 33% behind the arc against them.
On offense Marquette goes fast. Faster than Xavier kind of fast. They’ll get the ball inside quickly and try to get it up quickly. They don’t get turned over very much at all thanks to the rather annoying stylings of Tyler Kolek. They aren’t great shooting the ball from behind the arc, but they are so good and so fast elsewhere that they are still the 22nd most efficient offense in the nation.
Players
| Starting matchups | ||
|---|---|---|
| Stevie Mitchell | Point Guard | Dayvion McKnight |
| Junior | Class | Senior |
| 6’3″, 200 | Measurements | 6’0″, 188 |
| 8.5/4/0.8 | Game line | 12.3/3.8/4.9 |
| 52.4/73/27.8 | Shooting line | 46.3/39/81.7 |
| Kam Jones | Shooting Guard | Quincy Olivari |
| Junior | Class | Senior |
| 6’5″, 200 | Measurements | 6’3″, 200 |
| 16.2/2.5/2.1 | Game line | 19.1/5.5/1.9 |
| 49.7/73.3/40.2 | Shooting line | 43.1/42.6/81 |
| Chase Ross | Small Forward | Desmond Claude |
| Sophomore | Class | Sophomore |
| 6’5″, 205 | Measurements | 6’6″, 203 |
| 6.3/3/0.7 | Game line | 16.1/4.1/3.2 |
| 44.2/75.6/38.5 | Shooting line | 41.6/21/79.1 |
| David Joplin | Power Forward | Kachi Nzeh |
| Junior | Class | Freshman |
| 6’8″, 225 | Measurements | 6’8″, 230 |
| 10.9/3.6/0.5 | Game line | 2.5/2.3/0.4 |
| 43.4/66.7/38.7 | Shooting line | 60/0/50 |
| Oso Ighodaro | Center | Abou Ousmane |
| Senior | Class | Senior |
| 6’11”, 235 | Measurements | 6’10”, 240 |
| 14/7.3/2.8 | Game line | 6.9/6.5/1.2 |
| 60.1/62.2/0 | Shooting line | 46.4/25/45 |
Reserves
Marquette preferred quantity over quality off the bench, but that has been whittled down by injury. Ben Gold and Sean Jones were the only guys who averaged double digit minutes off the bench. Gold is an efficient inside scorer, Jones is out like Tyler Kolek. That leaves Zaide Lowery and Tre Norman as the backup guards. Neither offers much on offense, both are effective defenders with Norman being better on the ball. And that completes the list of the Golden Eagles who played in the last game.
Three questions:
– Who is healthy? Not for Xavier, actually, because we know the answer to that. Someone will tape Des’ ankle on and off we’ll go. Tyler Kolek is very unlikely to play this game for Marquette and has essentially been ruled out until the BET. Everyone is a bit banged up this time of year. Marquette still put up a fight against UConn with a semi-sick Oso Ighodaro and Kolek out.
– Can Xavier find the will to go? Things flagged at the end of the Butler game. Trey Green raged against the dying of the light, but some guys seemed almost stunned by things derailing. X cannot spot another team another huge lead here. Any significant deficit early will be curtains.
– What of Quincy Olivari? Q was bad against Butler, but that wasn’t really unexpected. On the road he shoots .379/.315/.862. That’s actually quite bad. At home he is a scorching .474/.489/.828 and averages five more points per game. A couple big shots early and he’ll be rolling and, hopefully, with him Xavier.
Three keys:
– Find some atmosphere: The Cintas was quiet when the DePaul game approached the half. It’s hard to blame anyone not enthused by the season so far or, you know, DePaul, but Xavier is going to need some serious home court advantage today. Part of that requires the team to give the fans a reason to be loud. The rest is just Xavier responding to their seniors.
– Don’t get swamped early: Marquette can score a lot and do it quickly. Coming back against Butler when Butler is playing like pure garbage is one thing, coming back against a team in the hunt for a one seed is a very different proposition. Xavier cannot afford to spot the Golden Eagles ten.
– Shoot early and often from deep: Marquette is an excellent defensive team and Xavier isn’t much of a shooting team. However, X isn’t going to score inside efficiently because, well, they can’t. Abou Ousmane isn’t about to become Jack Nunge. Marquette struggles when teams shoot even moderately against them from behind the arc. Send out Trey Green and let slip the dogs of war.