Xavier’s February slump not only sent the Musketeers crashing out of the Top 25, but it’s making a once-safe NCAA at-large bid somewhat tenuous as the calendar turns to March.
The Musketeers (17-11, 7-10 Big East), who have lost four consecutive games and six of their past seven, will try to get back on track Wednesday night when they visit another struggling team, St. John’s, in Queens, N.Y. The Red Storm (15-13, 7-10) have lost four of six including the past two.
Xavier coach Travis Steele was upbeat Monday, two days after an 82-66 home loss to Seton Hall in which boos rained in the final minutes and “Fire Steele” chants could be heard.
Xavier went 2-6 in February.
“We have no time for guys to be down,” Steele said. “We have to execute our defensive system. That’s what will turn our season (around). … The system is not broken.”
The Musketeers allowed Seton Hall to shoot 52.7 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from 3-point range, and Steele is wary of a St. John’s team that connected on 54 percent of its field-goal attempts in a Feb. 16 win at Xavier.
Julian Champagnie, who averages 19.0 points a game, scored 27 for the Red Storm in that 86-73 win.
“We got hurt with transition defense” in that game, Steele said, alluding to the fact that St. John’s had 27 fastbreak points. “They’re going to play extremely fast — off misses, makes, turnovers.”.
In the half-court, he said, “We can’t let them play one-on-one basketball.”
St. John’s also must shore up its defense after allowing host DePaul to shoot 55.9 percent in the Red Storm’s 99-94 loss on Sunday. Javon Freeman-Liberty led DePaul with 39 points.
“I thought in transition we didn’t do a good job of stopping” Freeman-Liberty, St. John’s coach Mike Anderson said, “and making him go wide. He was going right to the basket.”
He added, “Our man-to-man defense was not good enough. We let them get deep in the paint. If you let them get deep in the paint, they’re going to make something happen.”
Steele hopes to get back Nate Johnson, who shoots 39.4 percent from 3-point range and has missed the past four games. He practiced Monday for the first time since suffering a bruised knee Feb. 11 in a win over then-No. 24 UConn.
–Field Level Media
