Where: Cintas Center – Cincinnati, OH
When: 6:30pm EST
How: FS1 (Thom Brennaman and Dickey Simpkins)/Fox Sports GO app (where available)/WPRO 99.7 FM & 630AM, TuneIn and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV
Game Notes
- Providence and Xavier will meet for the 15th time ever on Wednesday. The Musketeers hold the advantage in the all-time series, 8-6. Providence is winless against Xavier in Cincinnati, 0-7.
- Xavier is 11-8 overall and 3-3 in Big East play this season. The Musketeers have won on the road at DePaul and at home against Georgetown and Butler, and they have lost at home to Seton Hall and at Marquette and Villanova. The loss against the Wildcats came in their most recent game on January 18th. Travis Steele is in his 1st season at the helm of the Xavier program.
- Ed Cooley passed Al McClellan on the all-time wins list for Providence head coaches with the Friars’ win over Iona on November 24th. Cooley is now in 4th place.
- Providence was picked 3rd in the preseason Big East Coaches’ Poll. Junior Alpha Diallo was named to the Preseason First Team All-Big East and David Duke was Preseason co-Freshman of the Year with Villanova’s Jahvon Quinerly.
- Providence announced the signing of 2019 commit Greg Gantt on November 16th. Gantt, a native of North Carolina, is currently the only committed player for Providence next season. The Friars will also add preferred walk-on Tommy Dempsey next season, the son of the Binghamton head coach announced via his Twitter on December 19th.
- The Big East, USA Basketball and Providence announced on December 18th that the 2019 USA Pan American men’s basketball team will be represented solely by Big East players and coached by Ed Cooley.
- The Friars blew a halftime lead to fall to Marquette, 79-68, at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Sunday.
- Opening Line: Providence +5 at Xavier 1/23/19
Game Preview
Providence and Xavier will meet for the 15th time ever on Wednesday. The Friars are 6-8 against the Musketeers, including an 0-7 record in Cincinnati. The average margin of defeat in those 7 road losses is more than 12 points/game.
Xavier, similar to Providence, is replacing some veteran stars with the likes of Trevon Bluiett, J.P. Macura and Kerem Kanter, who were the 3 top scorers from the 2017-18 Musketeers team. Xavier is also transitioning regimes after Chris Mack left for Louisville and his assistant coach Travis Steele is now the head man. The Musketeers are a young team, overall, but have gotten some quick fix help with three graduate transfers being added for this season to help ease the transition as many of the best returning players are sophomores and juniors.
The probable starters according to the game notes are:
Providence
- David Duke – #3 – Freshman
- Maliek White – #4 – Junior
- Alpha Diallo – #11 – Junior
- Jimmy Nichols – #10 – Freshman
- Nate Watson – #0 – Sophomore
Xavier
- Paul Scruggs – #1 – Sophomore
- Kyle Castlin – #2 – Graduate Student
- Naji Marshall – #13 – Sophomore
- Tyrique Jones – #0 – Junior
- Zach Hankins – #35 – Graduate Student
The keys to victory for Providence are make outside shots and keep Xavier out of the paint. The Musketeers are bad at defending the 3-point shot. The Friars haven’t been lighting it up from beyond the arc, but this would be a great game for players like Maliek White and Isaiah Jackson to see some long distance shots go through the rim. On the other end of the floor, Xavier wants to score in the paint, both via post-ups and penetration. This isn’t a typical Xavier team that would take and make a bunch of 3-pointers. Travis Steele wants the ball going inside to Zach Hankins and Tyrique Jones and he wants his guards to get into the lane to take shots at the rim, mostly because they aren’t good at shooting from distance.
Prediction: Providence 66 Xavier 65
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