Xavier vs. St. Josephs

Musketeers -4 vs. Hawks

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What a difference a few weeks makes. Xavier was firing on all cylinders, winning 11 straight and seemingly on their way to an unblemished conference mark. Now Xavier has lost three of their last five and is hanging on to the conference title by the slimmest of advantages, a half game over Dayton and Temple. Each of the recent three games they have dropped have been on the road and they will hit the road again, this time to face St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia.

Nineteenth ranked Xavier (22-5, 10-3) will have to hold on to be able to clinch their third straight regular season title, which seemed all but a foregone conclusion just 19 days ago. Even if they are able to recover and hold on to the lead, the Musketeers may be sliding down the seedings within the NCAA tournament because of their losses to seemingly inferior conference foes at Duquesne, Dayton and Charlotte.

This may be a must win for the Musketeers as they try to regroup on the road, where they did so well earlier this season. Playing one of the toughest nonconference schedules in the nation, Xavier was ranked as high as seventh for their efforts.

Depth has been a concern all season for Xavier and it has showed in conference play. The Musketeers have five experienced players coming off last seasons Elite Eight appearance, however all of their bench players were freshmen. While the offense has sputtered, the defense has been the culprit in many games lately.

Xavier was able to find their defensive ways with a dominating 71-53 effort over George Washington on Sunday. They will try to dominate a St. Joes team only managing 68.8 points per contest.

The Hawks (14-12, 7-5) dropped their fourth straight with a disheartening 70-69 home loss to U-Mass. St. Joes is 6-5 at home but have won two straight over Xavier, having swept the season series last year.

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