The Providence Friars fell from No. 20 to No. 23 in the AP poll no thanks to a series of losses in the Big East. The Friars, however, have a tasty opportunity to get more attention, as they seek to take down No. 8 Xavier Musketeers later tonight. As for the X-Men, they are hoping to sweep their season series with Providence.
Read on for more about this game. You can also check out our preview of Duke vs. North Carolina.
Betting on the Providence Friars (19-7 7-6 Big East)
With all three of their top scorers having a blast, the Friars were able to end their three-game skid by beating Georgetown on Saturday, 75-72. Ben Bentil scored 16, Kris Dunn had 20, and Rodney Bullock unloaded 23 points with four three-pointers against the Hoyas, who simply had no answer to the trio.
Bentil and Dunn would love for Bullock to get his offensive game flowing again later tonight. In the Friars’ 75-68 loss to Xavier on January 26, Bentil and Dunn scored 25 and 16 points, respectively, while the rest of the team mustered just 27 points with Bullock going 1-for-9 from the field for a measly three-point output.
Bentil leads the Big East in scoring with 20.4 points per game, while Dunn is right behind him with 17.1. Highly underrated, Bentil is also expected to take care of business on the glass, as he had six boards, including four offensive rebounds, in the first meeting with Xavier. Providence gets 37.0 rebounds per contest.
Dunn, on the other hand, is the central figure for Providence. An all-around guard with size and length, Dunn had seven assists, eight rebounds, and seven steals in the earlier matchup with Xavier.
Betting on the Xavier Musketeers (22-3 10-3 Big East)
It didn’t take Xavier long to fix the errors it committed when the it was upset by Creighton, 70-56, last week. With better rebounding and a vastly improved offense, the Musketeers recovered from that embarrassing loss to the Bluejays and took down Butler on Saturday, 74-57.
The Musketeers outrebounded Butler, 34-30, and shot an incredible 56.9 percent from the field (29-for-51). Rebounding is one of the strong suits of Xavier, as reflected by its Big East-leading average of 41.1 RPG.
J.P. Macura led Xavier with 13 points against the Bulldogs, who also let the Musketeers go 9-for-18 from beyond the arc. Macura has been an effective weapon off the bench for Xavier, and the Musketeers will be looking for their reserves to do a fantastic job again later tonight. In the first meeting with Providence, Xavier’s shock troopers outscored the Friars’ bench, 25-10, with Macura and James Farr contributing 10 and 11 points, respectively.
Farr had zero points on 0-for-3 shooting against Butler, but made up for it by hauling down 12 rebounds and swatting away two shots.
Trevon Bluiett, who scored 15 points, in the earlier Providence matchup, leads Xavier with 15.0 points per game.
Xavier is 2-0 SU/ATS in its last two meetings with Providence.
