“They overwhelmed us. Observations of the loss of Xavier Musketeers against Villanova Wildcats

Philadelphia – A very important victory of quadrant 1 was not in Xavier’s cards on Sunday when another opportunity slipped through the reach of musketeers in a defeat of 80-68 against Villanova at Wells Fargo Center.

With a Big East Frontal Channel calendar, Xavier’s chances of breaking the bubble of the NCAA tournament are rare in the section.

This is why the Sunday’s match was so essential to the chances of the musketeers to dance next month. Xavier fell to 1-9 in the quadrant 1 competition with the only victory to come to Marquette on January 18. As the NCAA Net ranking takes place, on Sunday was the last quadrant 1 of Xavier, although his home match against Creighton on March 1 can become an Q1.

Xavier also came to Philadelphia equally with Villanova for fifth place in the Big East. The five best teams in the League get a Bye in the first round in the Big East tournament.

Observations of the loss of Xavier Musketeers against Villanova Wildcats

Eric Dixon of Villanova dominates late while the Wildcats stop

The defensive game plan for any team against Villanova is focused on the veteran striker Eric Dixon, the country’s top scorer at 23.8 points per game.

Xavier held Dixon without goal for almost 13 minutes before making his only bucket of the first half. Dixon was only 1 out of 4 on the field in the first 20 minutes, but the Wildcats went 5 of 12 out of 3 points with large afternoons of the Wooga Poplar and Tyler Perkins guards.

A few moments after Xavier took an advance of 52-46 in the second period, Dixon woke up and scored 15 consecutive points for Villanova. He had files and 1 1 to 1 to give the Wildcats an advance of 62-58 at the dead of the under 8 years of age. The left-hander connected to a 3-point wing to push the two-digit Villanova’s advance (73-62) with just over four minutes.

“During most of the match, I thought that our game plan and our level of effort on Dixon were very good,” said Xavier’s head coach Sean Miller. “He (Dixon) has exhausted us. They exhausted us. Part of it was our execution. Party was that he is a difficult match.”

Dixon scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half and was one of the three Wildcats during the 20 -point brand. Poplar (23) and Perkins (20) were combined to go 15 out of 26 on the field and 9 out of 14 beyond the arc.

Perkins, who had not scored two figures since December 17, has chosen a good to have his best performance of the season with Xavier holding Dixon in check for more than 30 minutes.

“With him (Perkins) striking and playing with confidence, Villanova’s offensive takes a different form,” said Miller. “Admittedly, it was the team we went to.”

Villanova fired 60% in total and 7 out of 12 from the city center in the second half at the eclipse 80 points for the first time since January 4 (against Depaul). Xavier has now granted more than 40 points in the second half to three consecutive games.

“Some of this is execution and detailing a number of things to improve. Part of this is that it must come from yourself,” said Miller about the recent defensive struggles of Xavier.

Turnover is expensive for Xavier in the loss of road in Villanova

It is quite difficult to win on the road to university basketball. It’s almost impossible when you have trouble protecting the ball. Xavier pulled 52% of the field in the first half, but left a lot on the table by turning it more than nine times.

The defense of Villanova is n ° 272 in Kenpom as a percentage of turnover, but had one of his best efforts on Sunday by returning the musketeers 14 times.

Dante Maddox Jr. gives Xavier Spark out of the bench

Dante Maddox had only marked two digits three times during the game of Big East. Two of these performances came against the Huskies in defense of the national champion.

“Uconn Dante” arrived in Philadelphia on Sunday and gave Xavier’s production on the bench. Maddox overturned a pair of 3 points in the first half and went 3-in-3 on the line when he was the victim of a triple attempt.

Maddox equaled a summit with 13 in the opening stanza and finished with a summit of season 24. Zach Freemantle (18) and Marcus Foster (10) joined him with two figures.

Xavier won the Battle of Rebound, 30-27, with Foster paving the way with six boards. According to Miller, according to Miller, Sophomore Dailyn Swain, who had marked two -digit nine times in the 11 games, was fighting against a cold which limited him to only 15 minutes. Swain finished with 4 points and 5 rebounds.

After burning Villanova for 34 points last month, Ryan Conwell finished with only three points on a 1 out of 5 shot.

“In February, in the Big East, you are not going to run and open 3. You will be kept by a very motivated and talented player,” said Miller. “Scouting and familiarity are part of it. We have to do a better job as a team that runs to release Ryan.”

Xavier-Villanova presented 12 head changes in the first half

A first half of back and forth which included 12 lead changes wrapped in a 33-33 draw at the intermission.

Xavier pulled 52% on the field and had the biggest lead in the first half (28-23), but each team has snatched races taking momentum. The Wildcats had 11 second chance points in the first half and equaled it in the decreasing seconds on a Putback of Perkins.

Xavier wraps the road trip to Rhode Island

A section of seven games which includes five competitions on the road ends Wednesday when Xavier Visit Providence at AMICA MUTUAL PAVILION. Xavier plays four of his last six regular season games at the Cintas Center.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Big East Basketball: Xavier Musketeers falls to the Wildcats de Villanova