Xavier 12/9 6:30 FS1
Regardless of how well we're playing, this game is always hard, especially at Cintas. Xavier gave Houston trouble there last Friday night in a game marred by lots and lots of phantom fouls on Houston. That's probably about what we can expect from the officials on Saturday.
Xavier is 4-4 coming into the game after the loss to Houston. They also suffered a home loss to Oakland previous to Houston. Records generally don't matter much in this game when it comes right down to it. X plays Delaware on Tuesday night on FS1 if you'd like to tune in and check them out.
There's a question of how healthy they will be coming into the game against the Bearcats, Trey Green missed the Houston game with an illness. Jerome Hunter is done for the year with a cardiac issue. Zach Freemantle is done for the year.
There's no one guy to go after defensively on this squad but I think if we lock up their guards we can win it. I'd like to see us go after Desmond Claude. He's a volume shooter but he's a bit turnover prone.
Xavier does not have a lot of height outside of Ousmane at 6'10. Djokovic, also 6'10 , can play when needed but is not a regular. He's a freshman from Serbia who's never played in this game.
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I think UC wins if we're healthy and we stay out of foul trouble in the front court. I am a little concerned that most of our guards have never played in this game. If we're going to beat them in Cintas, this is the year. Their program is down a little relative to the last few years. We seem to have gotten much better this year.
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