Sean Miller continues to retool the Xavier roster after a disappointing 2023-24 season.
First, the news:
NEWS: Oklahoma transfer big man John Hugley has committed to Xavier, he tells @On3sports.
The 6-10 Cleveland native averaged 8.4 points in only 17 minutes per game this season. Began his career at Pitt. https://t.co/WVimQ6w8Ej pic.twitter.com/0Co6SyQBIO
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) April 16, 2024
Hugley is a monster of a man, listed at 6’10”, 275 on the Oklahoma roster last year. He’ll be in his fifth college season at Xavier, having started with three years at Pitt before moving to Norman last season to play for the Sooners. He’s a native of The Land, which will make Brad deliriously happy.
The good news is that he’s a proven scorer on the post at the high-major level. Xavier had an unquestionable hole in the offense there last season and it occasionally made games brutal to watch. He shot 70% at the rim last season and got to the line a ton with an excellent 52.4% FT rate. He was also 13-33 (39.4%) from deep, which is enough to be interesting without it being something you’d call an integral part of his game.
The bad news is that he has trouble staying on the floor. He went for 8.4/3.8/1.2 last year in just 17.6 minutes per game. He also averaged more than 5 fouls per 40 minutes, which was not out of line with his career norm.
In addition to foul issues, he has also struggled with injury problems. He lost time to meniscus surgery last season and had knee trouble cost him availability while he was at Pitt.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Xavier has a forward who can be all-league if he can stay healthy. With Zach Freemantle confirming over the weekend that he’s coming back and Jerome Hunter presumably on board, the Muskies can have one of the best frontcourts in the country. Sean Miller said he doesn’t think God will allow Xavier’s big men to miss time due to injury this season; if he’s right, the Muskies are tooling up to compete with anyone this year.