Florida Gators -4
The lost art of basketball and non-conference play……….
What in tarnations is going on here? We are in the thick of conference play in the NCAA basketball schedule and you are now provided a nice Non-conference game for your enjoyment as Ohio’s own Xavier Muskateers take on a once but not recently power house of a basketball program Florida Gators. The whole recent history as to why this game is being played is documented throughout the internet and sports pages as an effort to “beef up” the Gators strength of schedule due to recent poor showings of SEC teams in the end of year tourney……that said, let’s get it on!
Xavier comes into this game having won 8 of their last 10 games by an average of 9.5 PPG and is tied for 1st place in the A-10 along with Cincinnati and Richmond. They’re averaging 71.7 PPG away from home while sporting a 3-5 record away from the confines of the Cintas Center. This is a drastic difference from their 86.5 PPG that they dish out as the host of ball games. What is also a bit unnerving for the Musketeers is their road defense which is allowing teams that normally shoot the ball at 43% FGP to shoot it at 46% and score 74.5 PPG when normally scoring 70 PPG. This obviously is an advantage the Gators will take advantage of.
Xavier has some ballers on their team….Jordan Crawford, Terrell Holloway and Jason Love are all averaging over 10 PPG (Crawford just about 20 PPG). They have the tools and can use them but are having a difficult time winning on the road against good defensive teams. Their away losses include last week’s pummeling from Dayton (90-65) and losses to Temple, Wake Forest, Butler, Kansas St, and neutral games against Baylor and Marquette. Of these games, the Temple and Dayton were conference games. So where am I going with this? Xavier, while a good team at home and in A-10 play for the most part, is an average Joe while traveling. They have a rookie coach in Chris Mack who so far is reaping the benefits of having most of last year’s Sweet 16 team return to play under him this year. Overall, Xavier is a well put together team but has issues on the road…….