Big East Tournament 2018 Game Notes & Preview: (5) Providence (20-12, 10-8) vs (1) Xavier (28-4, 15-3) 3/9/18

Where: Madison Square Garden – New York, NY

When: 6:30pm EST

How: FS1 (Gus Johnson, Jim Jackson & Lisa Byington)/Fox Sports GO (Where Available)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Current Odds: pcbb1917 Odds Central

Tickets: SeatGeek

Game Notes

• Providence and Xavier will meet for the 14th time ever on Friday. Xavier leads the all-time series, 8-5, which includes a split of the season series in 2017-18 with each team winning on their home court. The Friars have never faced the Musketeers in Big East Tournament play.
• Providence is 63-59 all-time at Madison Square Garden including 2 NIT titles (1961 and 1963), 2 Big East Tournament titles (1994 and 2014) and a 3-0 record this season with 2K Classic wins over Washington and Saint Louis in November and Thursday’s quarterfinal win over Creighton.
• Xavier is 28-4 this season and they won their first ever regular season Big East title. The Musketeers’ only 3 losses in Big East play came against Providence in early January at the Dunk and a season sweep at the hands of Villanova. Xavier is coached by Chris Mack who is in 9th season at the helm of the program. The Musketeers are led in scoring by senior Trevon Bluiett who is averaging 19.7 points/game. Bluiett also leads the team in rebounding at 5.7 rebounds/game.
• The Friars defeated Creighton in overtime, 72-68, in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament on Thursday at MSG.
• Providence senior forward Rodney Bullock went over 1,000 points in his career against Boston College on November 25th. He became the 48th player in school history to score at least 1,000 points. Bullock is the 17th-fastest Providence player, tied with Eric Murdock, to score his 1,000th point (73 games). Bullock’s current place on the list is 21st with 1,355 points. He is 69 points behind Bob Cooper.
• Providence senior guard Kyron Cartwright continues his drive up the all-time assist record list at Providence. He began the season tied for 12th with John Linehan (450). Cartwright has 175 assists through 31 games. He has 625 assists in his career, which places him 3rd all-time at Providence. Next on the list in front of Cartwright is Ernie DiGregorio (662). Cartwright recorded his 500th career assist against URI on December 2nd. He is the 7th Providence player to record at least 500 career assists and the 3rd Friar with 600 career assists. Cartwright notched a career-high 15 assists in Providence’s win at St. John’s on December 28th. He recorded his 600th assist in the first half of Providence’s game at Butler on February 17th. Cartwright also surpassed the 1,000 point marker on February 21st against Seton Hall. Cartwright became the 49th player in school history to score at least 1,000 points in a career at Providence and he’s the third player to combine that with at least 600 career assists.
• Providence officially announced on November 29th that Emmitt Holt would miss the entire 2017-18 season as a redshirt while he continues to recover from abdominal surgery. Holt has been off campus recovering, but is expected to return to school in January. Holt did return to school over the MLK weekend and is back with the team, though he remains out of competition this season.
• Providence announced on January 11th that former Friar Ernie “Pop” Lewis passed away. Lewis was a key member of Providence’s 1987 Final Four team. You can read the official release and watch a tribute video here.
• Big East Tournament 2018 Opening Line: (5) Providence +7.5 vs (1) Xavier 3/9/18

Game Preview

Providence and Xavier will meet for the 14th time ever on Friday at Madison Square Garden in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament. The game will tip at 6:30pm and be televised on FS1. Providence and Xavier have never met in the Big East Tournament before Friday’s game. The Musketeers lead the all-time series, 8-5, which includes a 1-1 split this season. Providence beat Xavier back on January 6th at the Dunk and the Musketeers returned the favor on February 28th on Senior Night at the Cintas Center.

Xavier opened play on Thursday with a convincing win over 9-seed St. John’s in the 12pm game and Providence beat Creighton in overtime in the 4/5 game at 2:30pm to advance to the semifinals. Xavier has now been in the semifinals all 5 years that they’ve been in the Big East and this marks Providence’s 4th trip in those 5 years to the Friday games.

Providence surprised everyone in the quarterfinal game against Creighton by starting Maliek White instead of Kalif Young and rolling with a small lineup for almost the entire game. The matchups are slightly different with Xavier since they have big men that mostly score inside and aren’t as dangerous from beyond the arc. As a result I’m not sure the small lineup will be used at as high of  a clip in this game, but I would still expect to see it for stretches against Xavier. Another thing to monitor is how Kyron Cartwright recovers after tweaking a leg injury in the first half of Thursday’s game.

The probable starters are:

Providence

• Kyron Cartwright – #24 – Senior
• Alpha Diallo – #11 – Sophomore
• Jalen Lindsey – #21 – Senior
• Rodney Bullock – #5 – Senior
• Kalif Young – #13 – Sophomore

Xavier

• Quentin Goodin – #3 – Sophomore
• J.P. Macura – #55 – Senior
• Naji Marshall – #13 – Freshman
• Trevon Bluiett – #5 – Senior
• Kerem Kanter – #11 – Graduate Student

The keys to victory for Providence are to defend the 3-point line and win the battle at the free throw line. Xavier is almost impossible to beat if they are making a lot of 3-pointers. They are 13-0 this season when making at least 9 triples. If Providence can force shooters like Trevon Bluiett and J.P. Macura to put the ball on the floor and not allow them to catch and shoot the Friars have a chance to slow down Xavier’s potent offense.

The other place Xavier has usually made hay is at the free throw line. The Musketeers have the 27th highest Free Throw rate in the country, per Kenpom.com and they score 22.1% of their points from the charity stripe. That’s the 37th highest percentage of points scored from the line in the country. Providence has also been very good at getting to the free throw line with the 39th highest rate and they score 21.8% of their points there which is the 45th highest percentage. The two times this season when Xavier’s opponent took more free throws than them in a game resulted in losses with one being against Providence.

Prediction: Providence 74 Xavier 75

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Mike Hopkins

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