PC Needs Win Against Xavier to Have Chance at .500 Big East Record

PC Needs Win Against Xavier to Have Chance at .500 Big East Record

The Friars face the Xavier Musketeers Wednesday night at the AMP.  This is not a game that I circled at the beginning of the season.  Xavier is not a traditional rival; they don’t have a glorious Big East history, and hardly anyone knows who plays for them. They even play second fiddle in their hometown in Cincinnati to the Cincinnati Bearcats.

 

So, why is this a pivotal game for the Friars?  The Friars need a win. Any kind of a win will do. They especially need home wins if they want to get to a .500 Big East record. Xavier’s numbers for the year are better than PC’s. And they have a real stud in 6’9” senior forward Zach Freemantle, who leads them in scoring with 16.6 pts/game and in rebounds with 7.0/game.

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Xavier will likely be favored given their following strengths: inside scoring of Freemantle; outside scoring from guard Ryan Conwell, who has made 67 three-point buckets; a solid assists/turnover ratio of 1.3; and a respectable 78% free throw stat.

The Friars, on the other hand, are coming off a close, gut-wrenching loss to Butler that could have been a win.  They have lost three games in a row.  And the Friars are hurting—literally and figuratively.  The injuries keep mounting, and the close losses have to be impacting the team.  This is a leadership moment for Coach Kim English to inspire the Friars to salvage this season with a .500 Big East record.

Here's a path for the Friars, with an existing 5-8 Big East record, to finish with a 10-10 record.  Win all four remaining home games:  Xavier, Villanova, UConn, and DePaul.  They played Villanova and UConn tough on the road, and home wins against them at home are not out of the question.  In the three remaining road games against Georgetown, Marquette, and Xavier, they need to win at Georgetown. 

The wins need to begin tonight at home against Xavier.