Be cool if this team could play a whole game.
For the first four minutes, this game was an absolute disaster. The same Xavier team that fell apart down the stretch against Villanova opened against a depleted Providence. Justyn Fernandez – who came into the game averaging fewer than 3 points per contest on the season – score 3 points on 4 separate possessions before the media timeout, knocking down three threes and scoring and-one before the first commercial. With their backs against the wall, the most veteran team in the league got down 16-5 right off the rip.
If I had told you at that point that Xavier would later be up 26 in the game and Providence’s head coach would be watching from the locker room, you’d have called me crazy. You’d have also assumed Brad Colbert would have dribbled the game out.
But before we get there, we’ve gotta pick up down 11, when Dante Maddox Jr checked in. He immediately cashed a three to gives Xavier some life, then drew a foul and cashed a couple of free throws. Xavier’s energy level perked up. Dante’s second three of the game cut the deficit to just four with 12ish to play in the half.
His third put Xavier ahead. His fourth followed quickly on its heels, putting the Muskies up five. He assisted John Hugley IV from deep a couple of trips later, pushing the lead to ten. By the time the dust settled on the first half, Xavier was up 45-30, having gone 40-14 in the last 15:50 of the half to grab the game by the neck.
The second half started with more of the same, as Xavier outscored Providence 13-6 in the first war. Back-to-back threes by Maddox Jr followed soon after, pushing Xavier’s lead to 65-39 with 14:53 to play
Then Xavier just stopped scoring. The Muskies shot 3-13 from the floor the rest of the way. Three made baskets in just under 15 minutes of basketball, with six turnovers mixed in just for variety’s sake.
Inexorably, Providence chipped away. It was funny at first: “Oh no! They cut it to 18 with 10 to play; better call timeout!” When Xavier came out of that timeout to split a pair of free throws and then give up a 9-0 run that made it a ten-point game, I chuckled a little bit less. Thankfully, Ryan Conwell got fouled shooting a three and made all three free throws to right the ship a bit. Providence kept chipping away though, cutting it to 9 at the U4. From dead and buried, you could squint and see a way back in for the Friars.
It wasn’t to be. Despite Xavier’s almost palpable lack of energy down the stretch, the extremely depleted Friars couldn’t quite get over the hump. That more or less came down to what I hinted at a little bit earlier: even as Xavier was going 3-13 from the floor to close the game, they were cobbling together a 19-21 showing from the line in that time. Xavier shot 26-29 from the stripe on the game; Providence was 2-10. Shift those numbers both a bit closer to their season averages and this could have been a disaster for Xavier.
I’ll leave you with Sean Miller’s take on the game. When asked by the announcers postgame if he was just happy with a conference road win or if watching the 26-point lead dwindle to 9 had ruined the experience for him, he said, “That’s an easy answer; that ruined everything.”
Xavier is back in action hosting DePaul this Saturday at noon. I can hardly wait.