Game 55: Men at Xavier

The men's team travels to Cincinnati, OH to face #9/11 Xavier (24-4, 12-1) tonight at the Cintas Center. GW (9-14, 5-8) is coming off of an 85-68 home win over Rhode Island on Wednesday night. In that one, two Colonials reached double figures in scoring: Noel Wilmore (24 points) and Damian Hollis (22 points, eight rebounds, four assists). GW has won three-straight and four of its last five games coming into this one.

The Musketeers, who were picked to finish first out of 14 teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference, return three starters from the squad that went 25-9 and lost to Ohio State in overtime of the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Xavier has a mind-boggling six players essentially averaging double figures in scoring: 6-9 senior forward Josh Duncan (11.6 points, 4.7 rebounds per game this season), preseason All-A-10 First Team selection 5-7 senior guard Drew Lavender (11.2 points, 4.4 assists, 6-8 sophomore forward Derrick Brown (10.8 points, 6.7 rebounds), 6-6 junior guard/forward B.J. Raymond (10.8 points), , 6-6 junior guard/forward C.J. Anderson (10.5 points, 6.3 rebounds), and preseason All-A-10 Second Team selection 6-3 senior guard Stanley Burrell (9.9 points, 3.8 assists). Coach Sean Miller is 87-36 in four seasons at Xavier.

Xavier is coming off of a 57-51 win at Dayton on Sunday night. In that one, Duncan (14 points, four rebounds) was the only Musketeer to reach double figures in scoring. However, the visitors limited the Flyers to just 20-53 (37.7%) shooting from the field, including 3-11 (27.3%) from three-point land. Xavier has won 10-straight and 16 of its last 17 games coming into this one. The Musketeers have clinched the A-10 regular season title and are currently ranked sixth in the RPI. Xavier's biggest win of the season was an 80-65 triumph over #8 Indiana in the Chicago Invitational Challenge on November 24. The Musketeers are 14-1 at the Cintas Center this season; the only loss was to #12 Tennessee on December 22.

This is the 31st-ever meeting between these programs; GW is 9-21. The last meeting came on January 19, 2008 at the Smith Center, which the Musketeers won 74-66. GW cut the deficit to one on a Maureece Rice three-pointer with 1.47 to play, but #20/20 Xavier scored the final seven points of the game to avoid the upset. In that one, four Colonials reached double figures in scoring: Rice (22 points, five rebounds, four assists), Wynton Witherspoon (15 points, three assists), Hollis (12 points, 12 rebounds), and Rob Diggs (10 points, four rebounds). The Musketeers also had four players reach double figures in scoring: Lavender (14 points, seven assists), Duncan (14 points), Anderson (13 points, eight rebounds), and Raymond (12 points). Xavier has won the past two meetings and six of the last seven games in the series. GW is 3-9 all-time at Xavier, having won the last meeting in Cincinnati on February 6, 2006 by a score of 89-85.

Though coach Karl Hobbs' squad has been playing well lately, the pick here is for the Musketeers to prevail at home.

Greg Shapiro and I have the call for WRGW with Julian Gompertz and Alex Tainsh handling production duties. You can listen here starting at 6.40 p.m. Our own Paul Marmaro will join Byron Kerr for the WFED broadcast. You can listen here starting at 6.50 p.m. Tom Hart and Steve Wolf have the call for CN8. You can watch live starting at seven p.m.

Game notes: The Colonials control their own destiny in qualifying for the A-10 Tournament...GW is 3-13 in regular season games against ranked teams under Hobbs...All of those wins have come at the Verizon Center in the BB&T Classic...GW has lost 11 of its 12 games away from the Smith Center this season...The Colonials are 12-19 in their last 31 games away from the Smith Center...GW is just 4-4 when scoring at least 70 points...The Colonials were 16-1 when scoring at least 70 points last season...Coach Karl Hobbs has used 12 different starting lineups through 23 games...GW used just five different starting lineups in 32 games last season...This season, the backcourt accounts for only 35% of GW's points...Last season, the backcourt accounted for 54% of the Colonials' scoring...GW has six losses by 20 or more points this season...Over the first six years of the Hobbs era, the Colonials only suffered 10 losses by that margin...Xavier is 9-0 since these teams' first meeting this season, while GW is 4-6...Hobbs is 2-11 against Xavier and 1-4 against Miller...Miller is 4-1 against Hobbs' Colonials...The Colonials are 3-5 coming off of a win...Rice needs 19 points to pass Tom Glenn for 27th place in program history...Rice is averaging 13.6 points per game in five career meetings with Xavier...Diggs needs six blocks for 100 for his career...GW is 4-4 on Saturdays, 1-10 when allowing 70 points or more, and 3-0 with the starting lineup of Diggs, Hollis, Xavier Alexander, Rice, and Johnny Lee...All of those wins have come in the team's last three games against St. Bonaventure, Richmond, and Rhode Island...GW is 5-1 when Lee is in the starting lineup...Rice is averaging 11 points per game in 11 games away from the Smith Center...Rice is averaging 8.2 points per game in 10 home contests...Hollis is averaging 18.3 points per game over the three-game winning streak...Over the last seven games, Wilmore is 20-39 (51.3%) from three-point land...The current 10-game winning streak is the longest for Xavier under Miller...The Musketeers have had nine 20-win seasons over the last 10 years...They trail only Arizona, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Gonzaga, and Syracuse...Each of those schools has had 20 wins in each of the past 10 years.

Starting lineups and other notes to follow from the Cintas Center once we get closer to tip-off. Please check back later.

Update, 11.29 p.m. - Here were the starting lineups:

GW
G - Johnny Lee (5-8 sophomore from Nashville, TN)
G - Maureece Rice (6-1 senior from Philadelphia, PA)
F - Xavier Alexander (6-6 freshman from Forest Park, OK)
F - Damian Hollis (6-8 sophomore from Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
F - Rob Diggs (6-8 junior from Brandywine, MD)

Xavier
G - Drew Lavender (5-7 senior from Columbus, OH)
G - Stanley Burrell (6-3 senior from Indianapolis, IN)
F - C.J. Anderson (6-6 junior from Cincinnati, OH)
F - Derrick Brown (6-8 sophomore from Dayton, OH)
C - Jason Love (6-9 sophomore from Philadelphia, PA)

A valiant effort by the Colonials as they were led by Diggs (19 points, eight rebounds) and Lee (a career-high 14 points). The Colonials tied it at 49-49 with 6.21 to go, but shot just 2-10 from the field the rest of the way in the 66-56 loss. Lee tallied 36 minutes of playing time, while Rice was held scoreless in just 14 minutes.

With Dayton's win over Fordham tonight, GW now needs some help in order to reach the A-10 Tournament. Thursday's game at Charlotte is now a must-win. We'll be back then. As always, thanks for stopping by.