Not much at stake here.
What’s the least excited you’ve ever been for a Xavier game? Early buy games don’t bring much buzz, but there’s always that new season feeling of anticipation with them. Aside from that, it’s hard to think of many truly meaningless games in recent Xavier history. That’s what makes this game against DePaul so special: it’s functionally a dead rubber.
I know it’s technically a Q2 game, and Bart Torvik has it as worth .35 WAB, but Xavier’s resume isn’t one Q2 win from being anything other than dog dirt, and they’re almost 2 WAB on the wrong side of 0. This is obviously a game Xavier can’t lose, but is there upside to winning it other than avoiding the worst-case scenario? The Muskies have to reel off something like 5 of their next 7 to even be back in the conversation. That means absolutely taking this game and home to Nova, then 3 of 5 in a brutal stretch of at Marquette, at St. John’s, home to UConn, at Creighton, and home to Georgetown. Don’t make some magic in those games and the outcome of this one is immaterial.
I mean, this DePaul team is not good. Their last time out, they gagged on a 19-point second half lead, including being up 11 with under 4 to play, to lose to a bad Seton Hall squad. They somehow contrived to give up 14 points in the final 7 possessions of the game while only scoring 3 before going on to lose in overtime. That might have been their low point, but if so, it only barely edged out losing by 44 to Nova their last time out. Like Xavier, they hope their recent results represent the absolute nadir of the season. Someone is going to find a new low tonight.
Team fingerprint
Dead last on both sides of the ball in the conference. Their offense is slow and inefficient. They can’t shoot from anywhere; they are 9th in the league in 3P%, 10th in 2P%, and a lofty 7th in FT%. They shoot a lot of threes, more than 43% of their attempts in Big East play, but it must be for reasons unrelated to the results. They get to the line well. They share the ball well. They’re poor at turning either of those relative strengths into points. For those of you still traumatized from Xavier’s complete capitulation on the boards last time out, know that DePaul is 7th in the league in OReb%.
The defense isn’t worse, but only because it can’t be. They are absent without leave on the glass, dead last in the league in DReb%. They’re also last in 3P% defense and 10th in 2P% defense. They’re middle of the road in forcing turnovers and actually pretty good at keeping teams off the line. If you can get a shot up though, you can probably either make it or rebound the miss.
Players
Starters
| Conor Enright | Point Guard | Dayvion McKnight |
|---|---|---|
| Junior | Class | Senior |
| 6’2″, 180 | Measurements | 6’0″, 188 |
| 7.6/3.9/1 | Game line | 10.9/2.8/4.7 |
| 39/26.9/87.5 | Shooting line | 45.3/38.7/84.9 |
| Enright is a pass first point guard who can occasionally run into trouble when he doesn’t make sure those passes go to his teammates. His best game of the season came against UConn with 18/4/9, but outside of that showing he has 16 assists to 13 turnovers in Big East play. He has had some decent shooting nights, but he really hunts his teammates shots more than his own. |
| Jacob Meyer | Shooting Guard | Ryan Conwell |
|---|---|---|
| Sophmore | Class | Junior |
| 6’2″, 192 | Measurements | 6’4″, 215 |
| 16.5/6.2/2.6 | Game line | 16.3/2.9/2.1 |
| 46.3/23.4/73.9 | Shooting line | 45.7/42.9/75.5 |
| If you are wondering why DePaul is 0-5 in the Big East after starting 7-0 it is because a) they had a comically weak schedule to that point and b) their leading scorer’s EFG% has dropped 18 points in conference play. He really doesn’t do much other than score and he’s 4-24 from three so far in conference play. He is a product of Holy Cross in Covington, so I’m hoping that means he decides not to drop a breakout game on X. |
| CJ Gunn | Small Forward | Marcus Foster |
|---|---|---|
| Junior | Class | Senior |
| 6’7″, 200 | Measurements | 6’5″, 215 |
| 11/5.9/4.9 | Game line | 8.9/4.4/2.2 |
| 45.2/40/69.6 | Shooting line | 43.5/43.1/72 |
| Gunn profiles similarly to Meyer in terms of shot selection, splitting them about evenly between inside and outside the arc, and distribution, in that they simply don’t. Another similarity is that Gunn has also shot the ball really poorly since conference play began, although he had 22 points and shot 5-9 from three last time out against Seton Hall. |
| Troy D’Amico | Power Forward | Dailyn Swain |
|---|---|---|
| Senior | Class | Sophomore |
| 6’7″, 213 | Measurements | 6’8″, 220 |
| 2.8/0.3/0.3 | Game line | 9.1/4.9/2.1 |
| 35.3/38.1/57.1 | Shooting line | 54.2/33.3/81.5 |
| If you have two dudes who each shoot on about 30% of the team’s possessions in your starting lineup, someone is going to have to not shoot hardly at all to accommodate that and that is the role D’Amico plays. He’s going to look to spot up and is shooting a good percentage from three on the year, but he rarely shoots. He’s not really a rebounder either, but he had 18/6/4, all season highs, against The Hall |
| NJ Benson | Center | Jerome Hunter |
|---|---|---|
| Junior | Class | Senior |
| 6’8″, 235 | Measurements | 6’8″, 225 |
| 9.3/2.5/1.2 | Game line | 7/3.8/0.8 |
| 45.8/37.5/94.1 | Shooting line | 50/55.6/75 |
| Benson is slightly shorter than a typical high major center, but he is incredibly effective on the glass, especially offensively, nonetheless. He also blocks shots pretty well and manages not to foul very much in doing so. His biggest weakness is the fact that he is just not a very effective scorer, shooting 12-28 from the floor in conference play so far. |
Reserves
A major factor off the bench will be Isaiah Rivera, who is the team’s second leading scorer. Rivera essentially splits time with Gunn at the 3 and does much the same thing, although he converts his threes at a much higher rate and is less effective inside the arc. Spelling the other two guard spots is Layden Blocker, who had a nice 17 point outing against St. John’s, but also has more turnovers than assists in Big East games.
Down low, former Chris Mack Louisville recruit JJ Traynor has been shooting the lights out so far this year as a tertiary scoring option and does his job well on the defensive glass. Speaking of bigs who are shooting well David Skogman is 6’11” and has made 45% of his 40 three point attempts this season. He also hoovers up defensive rebounds, but has just made his return from injury after missing three games with a leg injury.
Three questions
-Does Xavier want to be here this year? I mean, obviously they do. These guys are high level competitors and their entire lives have built towards putting them in this stage. Then they come out with all the pathos of a soggy graham cracker in back to back games and a cynic could be forgiven for wondering. This team is not good enough to spend ten minutes warming into a game.
-Can DePaul mount a threat? No team in the Big East is better at forcing teams to score inside the arc than Xavier, and DePaul is absolutely miserable from two-point range. They like to shoot a lot of threes, but Xavier’s defense just doesn’t allow for that. It could be tough sledding for the Demons.
-Is there anything to be learned here? I mean, DePaul is bad. After Xavier walked a similarly poor Seton Hall team, we warned that any result against a team that bad might be a false dawn, and it certainly appears that Xavier failed to capitalize on any momentum they established in that beating. Now they travel to face the team whose name has been synonymous with futility for over a decade in this league. What can really be drawn from anything that happens in this game?
Three keys
-Show up on time. In the first ten minutes of Xavier’s last two games, they’ve been outscored by a combined total of 20 points. They cut the combined halftime deficit to just 10, showcasing both tenacity and real quality. Unfortunately, those early holes proved too much both times out. DePaul isn’t as good as Georgetown or St. John’s, but on their home court and looking for their first conference win in 724 days, they’ll be looking for any hope to cling to.
-Stay for the whole game. The less said about this the better. If college basketball games were 36 minutes long, Xavier would be cruising for a protected seed. Instead, they’re looking up at the bubble. Fade out of this one and they won’t be.
-Get to the line. Xavier is an elite free throw shooting team in both rate and percentage. The closest thing DePaul’s defense has to a strength is their ability to keep teams off the line. If Xavier can undermine that, the rest should take care of itself.