Slumping Xavier is aiming to get back to the .500 mark while visiting DePaul will try to record their first Big East win of the season when the two struggling programs meet Wednesday night in Cincinnati.
Following its win over Villanova on Feb. 7, Xavier (13-14, 7-9) stood 13-10 and 7-5 in the Big East. Since then, the Musketeers have dropped four straight, including Sunday’s 88-64 blowout loss in Milwaukee to No. 7 Marquette.
Xavier, which fell by 43 at UConn in late January, trailed by 32 at one point during Sunday’s loss, leading head coach Sean Miller to openly question his team’s resolve. Miller hinted during his weekly radio show that late-season lineup changes could be coming.
“What is expected is that you’re gonna play your heart out, you’re gonna play with tremendous effort level from the start of the game to the finish, or else I’m telling you right now, you will never play here,” Miller said. “You won’t even know who these guys are.
“If that means that (walk-on) Brad Colbert starts or Brad Colbert plays more, the one thing I know about Colbert is, he’s gonna give everything he has for the sake of the team. That’s why I put him in (against Marquette).”
Quincy Olivari ranks second in Big East scoring at 18.9 points per game. He enters the DePaul game just two points shy of 2,000 for his collegiate career, split between Rice and this season at Xavier.
Olivari scored a career-high 43 points in Xavier’s 93-68 win over DePaul in Chicago on Feb. 3.
DePaul (3-24, 0-16) is coming off a heart-breaking 77-76 loss to Georgetown last Saturday, nearly coming back from a 13-point halftime deficit. DePaul has dropped 15 straight, including all nine under interim coach Matt Brady, who took over for the dismissed Tony Stubblefield on Jan. 24.
DePaul led 76-75 before two Georgetown free throws and a missed Jaden Henley layup in the closing moments handed the Blue Demons their 28th straight Big East loss.
“Our guys are really down,” Brady said. “That’s a locker room that felt like they did a lot to earn a win. But we had to do more. We didn’t get the win. I thought that they made a few more plays in the second half than we did. But it never comes down to one play in athletics.”
–Field Level Media