Seton Hall, Xavier both looking for bounce-back efforts

Field Level Media|published: Tue 13th February, 14:46 2024

Xavier Musketeers forward Abou Ousmane (24) drops a pass as Seton Hall Pirates center Jaden Bediako (15) guards him in the second half of the basketball game between Xavier Musketeers and Seton Hall Pirates at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati on Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023. credits: Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

In late December, Seton Hall absorbed a 20-point loss at Xavier and responded with five straight wins.

With four losses in six games and coming off their worst showing of the season, the Pirates will attempt to author a similar response Wednesday when they host the Musketeers in Newark, N.J.

Seton Hall (15-9, 8-5 Big East) opened conference play with a stunning 75-60 win over UConn and then got hammered 74-54 at Xavier on Dec. 23. The Pirates then won five in a row, beating two ranked teams in that stretch.

Seton Hall is coming off an 80-54 loss Sunday at Villanova that followed consecutive wins over Georgetown and DePaul.

The Pirates matched their season low in points and shot 40 percent against the Wildcats. Al-Amir Dawes scored 14 points and Kadary Richmond added 12 but Seton Hall also shot just 9-for-30 from 3-point distance.

"This was an embarrassing performance by us," Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said after his team allowed a season-worst 14 3-pointers and 53.6 percent shooting overall. "They came out and punched us in the face, and we took it and just ran away. Embarrassing all around."

Xavier (13-11, 7-6) is attempting to make a late push with three wins in its last four games. The Musketeers won three straight against St. John's, DePaul and Villanova but fell short in a 78-71 home loss to then-No. 19 Creighton on Saturday when they were held to 15 fastbreak points after entering the game ranked fourth nationally in that area.

Xavier sliced a 20-point deficit to five but ran out of time. Desmond Claude scored 22 for his sixth 20-point game in league play while Dayvion McKnight added 21 and leading scorer Quincy Olivari contributed 18.

"What I'm not gonna do is allow this home loss to change our mindset of what we've been doing the last three months," Musketeers coach Sean Miller said. "As it gets closer to March, the gloom on a loss kind of steals your mind. Yeah, we lost. We have to come back and bounce back."

Xavier has won the past four meetings in the series with Seton Hall.

—Field Level Media