I am not a particularly flexible guy. Long since gone are the days of reaching around someone to poke a dribble away, lunging for anything without feeling it in my back, or going for a run or working out without limbering up first. I say all this to say I cannot physically kick myself in the crotch. Thankfully, I can replicate that same feeling by watching Xavier basketball.
Xavier has two basic ways of making us all suffer this year. They can build a big lead and then inexorably give it back, or they
can fall behind by an almost comical number and then rally to make a game close. Both leave you feeling exhausted and empty by the end. Tonight (I’m writing this around midnight on Wednesday), they chose the second option.
This one didn’t take long to go downhill. Xavier led 2-0, then went empty on 16 of the next 23 possessions. In that stretch they were 4-17 from the floor, made a couple, then missed another four in a row. While Xavier was doing whatever that was, Providence was red hot. They shot .581/.556/.750 for the first half as Xavier very literally could not stop anyone. Even someone called Peneris Pinnis scored. Those were his two points in a month and his 12th and 13th points of the season.
With six minutes to play, Xavier was down 23. Their defense was as appalling as it has been at any point this season. The Friars got 1.516 points per possession in that first half. Xavier did nothing that slowed anyone down. Providence only had five second chance points, but mostly because they weren’t missing their first chances. Jason Edwards, who shoots the ball like holding it burns his hands, was 3-3 from deep. Only the offensive stylings of Jamier Jones, a chilly 2-9, kept this from being a 30 point deficit.
Content that they had done a sufficient amount of damage, Xavier started the comeback. Filip Borovicanin (19/9/1) was the first Musketeer to try making a shot or two, and Roddie Anderson (27/6/0) joined in shortly after. Despite starting so pitifully from the floor, Xavier somehow scored over a point per possession in that first half. At the midway point of the game the Musketeers had wrestled the lead back to a manageable 13. Of course they had.
And then they promptly allowed Providence the first five points of the second half. Down 18 at that point, Xavier should have been dead and buried. They weren’t, because this team just does not recognize when it is beaten. In six minutes they were back to within 12. Jovan Milicevic (17/8/0) got his offense going and Roddie stayed red hot. Xavier was finally scoring right with Providence. What they could not do was get a meaningful amount of stops.
Providence cooled off to the tune of .500/.444/.765 and 1.38 ppp in the second half. That was Xavier’s better half of defense. X themselves ripped off 26 points in the paint and shot 60.6% from the floor in the second half, but even in doing that could not quite get all the way back. You simply have to play some defense at some point in time. Xavier never really did.
And yet, with 5:57 to play Xavier was back within seven. Depending on who you ask that gave them a six or seven percent chance of winning the game, but it felt like something. Then Jaylin Sellers hit a three from very long range and Roddie Anderson turned it over. Two minutes after their high water mark, Xavier was back down 16. It ended at 10, but this one was never really in doubt.
Each game we mention three keys for a Xavier win. Tonight, Xavier took care of the ball. That was key. Xavier also battled the Friars to basically even on the glass. That was another key. The third was to not get buried against one of the nation’s best offenses. Bryan mentioned on our podcast that Providence’s defense will let you stay in a game so long as you don’t let their offense put you away.
Tonight, Xavier failed to keep the Friars close early. All of the heart in the world, and this team has a ton, doesn’t matter when you spot a team 23. Xavier has been agonizingly close to getting wins this season. This game was just agonizing.
