The top team in the Big East in the form of the Providence Friars will look to add another win to their impressive record as they go up against the struggling Xavier Musketeers on the road this coming Wednesday. Will the Friars baptize Xavier with a loss? Or will the Musketeers slash their way to an upset win? Check out our preview below of this Providence-Xavier Big East college basketball game.
Providence racked up another win last Saturday, as the Friars defeated the Butler Bulldogs at home, 69-62. The Friars are now 3-0 straight up in their last three games, all played at home. This time, Providence ventures out of its comfort zone, though the Friars have gone 3-0 against the spread in their last three games away from home. Senior center Nate Watson led the Friars in the Butler game with 18 points and seven rebounds. As a team, Providence shot 50.9 percent from the field and hit five threes on 11 attempts. The Friars could be missing the services of AJ Reeves again, with the guard still dealing with a finger injury on his non-shooting guard. In the event he misses the Xavier game, Providence will ask more from Jared Bynum and Al Durham, who had 10 and 12 points versus the Bulldogs, respectively.
The under is 7-3 in Providence’s last 10 games on the road.
Xavier has seemingly cooled down after a blistering 11-1 start to the season. Since then, the Musketeers have gone 3-3 straight up. In their last game, the Musketeers lost to the Marquette Golden Eagles on the road Sunday, 75-74. However, when they last played at home, the Musketeers scored an 80-73 win over the Creighton Bluejays, 80-73, on Jan. 15. Xavier owns a pretty good defense that is allowing just 63.6 points per game this season. Teams are also just shooting 45.2 percent inside the arc and 39.9 percent from the field against Xavier. They usually finish the job on defense by rebounding the ball well. Xavier is 19th in the nation with 26.7 defensive rebounds per game. As for their offense, the Musketeers usually lean on the tandem of Justin Lewis and Darryl Morsell. The two combined for 39 points in the loss to Marquette.
Xavier is 7-3 against the spread in its last 10 home games.
