Things are as sweet as can be for Arizona. The No. 2 seed Wildcats shut down Ohio State and its star D’Angelo Russell to reach the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in seven tournaments under head coach Sean Miller. The Wildcats have been playing at an elite level for some time now, blowing opponents out left and right. But to reach the Elite Eight, they must first get by the impressive Xavier Musketeers.
Xavier was one of the sleepers out West that we predicted in our tournament sleepers preview. Can the Musketeers keep their run going by taming the Wildcats? Read on as we preview this tasty Sweet 16 matchup.
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March Madness No. 2 Arizona Wildcats vs. No. 6 Xavier Musketeers Preview
Arizona added yet another blowout win to its ever-increasing list with a 73-58 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Round of 32. It was the Wildcats’ 13th win in a row, and their 10th by 15 or more points. They’re 10-3 against the spread in those 13 games.
[sc:NCAAB240banner ]Arizona’s offense struggled as it shot just 36.5 percent from the field. Leading scorer Stanley Johnson (14 points per game) had the worst shooting game of his freshman season after going just 1-of-12 for four points. Senior TJ McConnell picked up the slack with 19 points, six rebounds, six assists. Meanwhile, Gabe York added 19 more off the bench.
The star of the show, though, was Arizona’s defense, which held Ohio State star D’Angelo Russell (19 points per game) to just nine points on 3-of-19 shooting. The Wildcats limited the Buckeyes to 38.5 percent as a team, and 29 percent from three.
The Arizona D will now switch its focus from Ohio State’s perimeter-oriented offense to Xavier’s style of pounding the paint early and often. That should suit the Wildcats just fine given that they have the bodies to bang inside with Xavier’s bigs. Arizona’s great size has also allowed it to dominate the battle of the boards. The Wildcats have a plus-33 rebounding advantage over the first two tournament games.
Meanwhile, McConnell should be well-prepared to pester Xavier point guard Dee Davis into some costly turnovers. Davis makes his team tick with 6.1 assists per game, so stopping him would go some way in mucking up the Musketeer offense. McConnell, who was one of the country’s leaders in steals during the regular season with 2.1 per game, had five in the win against Ohio State.
With March Madness now in the Sweet 16, create a betting account now and make your own sweet picks as the Final Four creeps closer.
Betting on the Xavier Musketeers
Xavier’s offense has been very efficient over the first two rounds of the tournament. It shot 46 percent from the field en route to a comfortable 76-57 win over Ole Miss in the round of 64, and made an even better 67 percent in a 75-67 win against Georgia State to make the Sweet 16.
Perhaps the most surprising part of the Musketeers’ offense has been its success with the three-pointer. After averaging a respectable 35 percent from three during the regular season, they’ve gone 17-of-36 (47 percent) from beyond the arc over the first two tournament games.
6-10 forwards Matt Stainbrook (20 points vs. Ole Miss) and Jalen Reynolds (21 points against Georgia State) remain the focal points of this offense with their very effective interior play. But with the tall and talented front line of Arizona ready to make things difficult in the paint, the Musketeers will need some timely three-point shooting to hang with the Wildcats.
Myles Davis could be ready to provide just that after his big 17-point performance against the Panthers. Davis is the team’s third-leading scorer with 10.5 points per game off the bench, but he had averaged just 6.7 points in his previous seven games. He’s the team’s best three-point shooter, averaging 1.7 makes per game at a 37 percent clip, and went 5-of-8 from beyond the arc against Georgia State.
Writer’s Prediction
Arizona’s superior talent is too much for Xavier, but the Musketeers’ size and shooting make this a much closer game than most anticipate. Take Xavier (+10.5) to cover.
