What we learned from Xavier Musketeers win over Providence Friars

Over the last month, Xavier has played with the pressure of knowing that seemingly any conference slip-up down the stretch could burst its NCAA Tournament bubble. 

It didn’t matter. 

While other teams played their way off the bubble, Xavier put itself in good position for at-large bid. 

Xavier (21-10, 13-7 Big East) ended the regular season on a seven-game winning streak Saturday with a 76-68 victory over Providence on Senior Day at sold-out Cintas Center. 

"I thought today was a magical day at Cintas Center," Xavier head coach Sean Miller said. "I thought the heartbeat of the arena, the electricity, that's how it's supposed to be."

As the streak continued, Xavier began to move into the field for a lot of well-known bracketologists, especially after picking up a pair of Quad 2 wins (vs. Creighton, at Butler) over the last week. Xavier was the penultimate team invited to the dance in ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update Saturday morning. 

Beating Providence, which has dropped nine of its last 10, doesn’t move the needle, but a loss certainly would have. It’s another bullet dodged by a desperate Xavier team fighting for its March Madness life with no room for error. 

Xavier, 12-3 since hitting an early-January “low point”, has hit the significant 21-win mark heading into next week’s Big East Tournament. The last 71 teams to show up to Madison Square Garden with 21-plus wins have been invited to the NCAA Tournament. 

Observations from Xavier Musketeers' win over Providence Friars

Zach Freemantle leads Senior Day scoring in final game at Cintas Center

It was only fitting that Zach Freemantle, a true unicorn in today's college basketball world, to lead Xavier's offense in his final home game.

Freemantle made his first three field goal attempts in the first half but missed his next three. In the second half, Freemantle felt like a one-man wrecking crew as he scored 19 of Xavier's 40 points over the final 20 minutes.

"To be able to pull out a win like that. I couldn't lose this game. The last game at Cintas (Center). It was a must-win," Freemantle said.

Xavier never got into rhythm offensively, managing just a 44.8% shooting clip for the game and going 7-of-20 from deep. Freemantle was 11-of-16 for a team-high 25 points. Freemantle is shooting 59.7% from the field and averaging 17.4 points over Xavier's winning streak.

"Nobody is playing better basketball than Zach Freemantle is," Miller said.

Jerome Hunter (12 points) was in double figures for the first time since Jan. 25. Ryan Conwell made four of Xavier's seven 3-pointers and finished with 21. It was Conwell's fourth consecutive 20-point performance.

Dailyn Swain had 8 points and Marcus Foster finished with 6 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals.

Xavier was able to pull away at the free-throw line, going 17-of-21. Providence was just 4-of-11 at the stripe.

Xavier does enough in crunch time to hold off Providence

Xavier was not on its A-game at any point during Saturday's game. Going into the final media timeout, Providence had trimmed an 11-point lead to just five after a pair of 3-pointers.

The Friars were on fire from beyond the arc (12-of-24) to keep the pressure on Xavier, which had everything to lose in the regular season finale.

Bensley Joseph led Providence with 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including seven triples. Ryan Mela added 12.

"Bensley Joseph is one of the more underrated guards in college basketball," Miller said. "He is an absolute stud. He made it very difficult for us."

Xavier led 69-64 going into the final media timeout but answered with a 7-2 run and did enough defensively over the final minutes of regulation to escape disaster.

While Providence was launching successfully from long range, Xavier's defense did wreak havoc when it mattered. Xavier forced 17 Providence turnovers and turned those takeaways into 20 points.

"We pressure the ball and we're more disruptive," Miller said. "We play with greater effort. We try to get deflections. We try to get the basketball when they drive it. We help each other a little more. That's really grown."

Providence keeps pace with Xavier from the perimeter

Providence played true to the scouting report as a team that scores 38.7% of its points from beyond the arc.

Xavier led for 15-plus minutes in the first half, but Providence was able to offset eight early turnovers and foul trouble by connecting from deep while Xavier struggled to find any offensive rhythm.

Providence was 6-of-13 from the perimeter in the first half, highlighted by Joseph. The senior was just 6-of-31 from the field over the last three games combined but went 3-for-3 from downtown in the first half to lead the Friars with 11.

Xavier's offense comes out flat against Providence

Xavier had held a double-digit halftime lead in each of its last three home games, but that trend wouldn't continue Saturday with one of the Musketeers' slowest offensive starts in Big East play.

Xavier shot just 34.4% from the field (11-of-32) in the opening stanza against a Providence defense that had allowed 80-plus points in six of its last eight games. Conwell carried the load with 13, knocking down three 3-pointers.

Freemantle had 6 and Hunter had 7 at the half, knocking down a 3-pointer.

Xavier will face Marquette in the Big East Tournament

Only Big East Tournament seeding was up in the air by the time Xavier and Providence tipped off.

After No. 6 St. John's beat No. 20 Marquette early Saturday afternoon, Xavier was locked into a matchup with the Golden Eagles in Thursday's Big East Tournament quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m.

Xavier secured the No. 4 seed in the tournament with its win over Providence and will be considered the home team Thursday in Manhattan.

"Right now, in March, we're playing our best. I think the teams that play against us would say that," Miller said. "We feel that. We're also very healthy right now as we head to Madison Square Garden. We've gotta be at our best in New York City."

Xavier and Marquette split the regular-season series with each team winning on the road.