Xavier and Seton Hall are two of four winless teams in Big East Conference action. One of them will finally get a win on the board when the Pirates visit the Musketeers on Tuesday in Cincinnati.
Xavier (8-5, 0-2 Big East) has been sliding ever since opening the season 6-0. Its current three-game skid has come against Top 25 opponents: at Cincinnati, at UConn and against Marquette. The Musketeers took UConn to overtime before falling 94-89 and lost to then-No. 9 Marquette 72-70 on Dec. 21.
“Right now, I don’t even know if it’s trying to manufacture positives as much as just, we need a break and we need to come back,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “We’re playing short-handed. I wish I could help the guys a little bit more and I think it becomes our job to just do the best we can when they get back.”
The Musketeers haven’t won since leading scorer and rebounder Zach Freemantle (16.9, 7.7) suffered a knee injury that will sideline him indefinitely.
Without Freemantle, Jerome Hunter (6.6 points per game) leads a thinned-out frontcourt, while Ryan Conwell (16.2 ppg, 43.9 percent from 3-point range) must shoulder more of the scoring responsibility.
Seton Hall (5-8, 0-2) is in an even deeper funk, having lost four straight and five of six. When the Pirates hosted Georgetown on Dec. 22, they never held a lead but scored the final 10 points of the game and had a shot to win on the final possession before coming up short, 61-60.
“What lost the game for us was we can’t keep spotting teams. We’re spotting teams points in the first half, right?” coach Shaheen Holloway said. “Then we try to come back and we waste a lot of energy coming back, and guys are a little fatigued.”
Isaiah Coleman, one of the few players to return from last year’s NIT-winning team, shined with a career-high 25 points and nine rebounds — seven on the offensive glass.
Coleman has become Seton Hall’s leading scorer (13.9) and rebounder (5.0), with Chaunce Jenkins the No. 2 option (11.5, 4.2). But Holloway said he’s still looking for a closer to emerge.
“At the end of the games, there’s not too much coaches can do,” Holloway said. “And I’m not throwing my players under the bus, I’m just being totally honest right now. At the end of the game, the players gotta make plays, right? I gotta put them in position to make plays, so that’s on me, but we just need somebody that wants to be a closer and wants the ball.”
–Field Level Media
