My Xavier Preview: Great guards, unproven frontcourt...

Posted on: November 11, 2016 at 11:53:57 CT

As you all know this makes the third straight year that the Tigers play the Xavier Musketeers. This is a team loaded in the backcourt but has a lot of unproven talent in the frontcourt after losing James Farr and Jalen Reynolds. The thought is that transfer Rashid Gaston can come in and fix that right away, but rebounding/scoring in the MEAC is a lot easier than the Big East.

Mizzou's Advantage: Quickness, Xavier has big guards in Bluiett, Macura, and Sumner. Mizzou will have trouble with their size on offense but on the flipside guys like Phillips, Walton, and Hughes should be able to get in the lane and create against Xavier's bigger guards. If Kevin Puryear and Willie Jackson can be a factor against Gaston and Kaiser Gates Mizzou's front court also will also be fine in this game.

Xavier Advantage: Proven guard play, the trio of sumner, macura, and bluiett is one of the best in the country. If you added Davis they would really be formidable but it's likely he will not be back for our game against them.

Xavier is a very good team led by a great pg in sumner and two very good guards in blueitt and macura. Mizzou does have a chance to win this game though if they play well and keep two of the three guards in check. I predict Xavier wins by a score 78 - 72 with Mizzou keeping it close the entire game but just coming up short.