Someone had to be the hero for Xavier to finally win one of these.
I guess that’s how you break out of a shooting slump. I wrote in the last recap that Ryan Conwell had found other ways to contribute when his shot wasn’t falling. After a six-point first half and only one made three, he decided to get scalding hot in the second half and carry Xavier to a win. You’d be pardoned for thinking that this one was getting away from Xavier when Conwell went to the bench with his 4th foul about halfway into the second half. In that stretch, Dayvion McKnight hit a couple of shots, Marcus Foster cashed a three, and Dailyn Swain tried to actually attack the rim. This, combined with an excellent defensive effort, kept the game in reach for Conwell to kill it off late.
Ryan Conwell is very alive
Conwell was 5-22 from three in the last three games before tonight. Dropping 19 on DePul must have shaken something loose for the young man because he basically couldn’t miss in the second half. Not only did he drag the team back into the game, but he then buried it late with a four-point play and a dagger three with just under a minute to go. When it was time to finish the game at the line, he did that too. On a night where his team desperately needed him to be the guy, he stepped up and delivered.
The defense, and Ryan Conwell, won this game
Villanova is known for the glacial pace they like to play the game at. So far this season, that had translated to a top-10 offense that could take and make a lot of threes. The defense held that offense to just under a point per possession and forced it into 14 turnovers. Eric Dixon still got 18 but had to take 16 shots to get there and was forced to work for clean looks. It wasn’t the cleanest defensive performance by any stretch of the imagination, but X got the stops they needed late.
Winning is nice
It’s been a while since this team beat anyone of any real importance. It’s up for debate if they have at all. X still has to win a lot of games to get themselves into any serious tournament conversations, and tonight was a step in the right direction. After watching this team throw games away, literally, it felt like watching the same movie with a different ending tonight. Instead of doing the dumb stuff, the team actually closed a game. If nothing else, it showed that this group is physically capable of winning a close game and not crapping it away in winning time. It also taught us that getting 34 points from one of your starting guards can paper over a lot of cracks. On to the next.