Hart, the Big East Tournament MVP last year and a likely all-conference first-teamer, was in the first slump of his junior year. North Carolina shot 54 percent and shut down Miami (21-5, 10-4) at every turn while leading by as many as 38 points.
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Ditto for Jay Wright, who told Villanova’s website that so much has happened since that “bizarre game”.
One thing Xavier has never done in their current home arena is host the number one team in any meaningful ranking. It seems like everywhere we go it’s like that, but this place is unique.
Can Villanova win at Xavier?
Xavier’s James Farr (2) shoots against Villanova’s Daniel Ochefu (23) and Ryan Arcidiacono (15) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016, in Cincinnati. It will be interesting to see if Steve Prohm expands his rotation to seven guys and allocates more minutes for reserve Hallice Cooke. That was, by far, their best win of the season, but they also beat Saint Joseph’s on the road. This game will decide which team will become leader of the conference, assuming the two teams win their next two conference games. Wednesday’s game gives Xavier a chance to break their duck against Nova and announce themselves to the basketball world as a legitimate national title contender.
In addition to the crowd, the Musketeers also will be motivated by the fact that they haven’t beaten Villanova yet in the two-plus years of Big East play. The country’s No. 1 and No. 2 teams, Villanova and Kansas, were ideal, and remain the top two teams in our Bracket Watch. Only Gonzaga, Kentucky and Wisconsin have a higher all-time winning percentage at their current home.
“This is going to be about toughness”, Hart said. “Xavier grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, so if they combine that with better shooting and better defense, the Musketeers have a good shot at revenge”. The first meeting has to be weighing on their minds as Nova shot 63 percent from the field and 52 percent from 3-point land while Xavier shot just 39 percent from the floor. Sumner was hospitalized in Philly, missed three games with a concussion and didn’t play for 2½ weeks but has returned to have a terrific season. Trevon Bluiett is averaging 15.3 points and 6.5 rebounds while Edmond Sumner is averaging 11.4 points and 3.2 assists. The Pac-12 now has three teams with Utah moving in.
Xavier led by three, 40-37, at the half. This is unquestionably the biggest game in the history of the Cintas Center and might be Xavier’s biggest regular season game ever.
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“It was weird.” said Wright. “I don’t know. We can’t think backward”. It was just a surreal day. We’ll hardly even look at that to prepare.
