The roller coaster season that has been Xavier Musketeer basketball in 2014-2015 took another big turn in Tuesday night in the Verizon Center. Xavier went into their game with Georgetown as a road underdog who needed a win to keep themselves above the .500 mark in conference play. A win is what they got.
Sophomore point guard Myles Davis led the Musketeers with 19 points and five assists as four Xavier players scored in double-figures in a 66-53 win over the 21st ranked Georgetown Hoyas. Senior forward Matt Stainbrook added 12 points from the post which nearly equaled his season average of 13 points per game. Remy Abell and Trevon Bluiett each added 11 points.
Davis has really elevated his play in the last four games which has seen his minutes go up. He is averaging 34 minutes per game over the last week and 13.5 points per game during that same time frame.
Georgetown could not make a bucket to save their life on Tuesday night. 8,576 fans witnessed the home team shoot just 39.5% from the floor, 27.3% from behind the arc, and just 54.2% from the free throw line. D’Vautnes Smith-Rivera led the Hoyas with 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting. L.J. Peak and former UCLA forward Joshua Smith also scored in double figures on the night.
With the win, Xavier has swept the season series with Georgetown after splitting it last season. The win also pushed Xavier to 5-4 in the conference but more importantly, kept them in the hunt for a high seed in the Big East Tournament. Xavier is currently in sixth place but they are only one game out of first place which is tied three ways between Villanova, Providence, and Georgetown.
Xavier has a few days off before returning to action on Saturday morning on the road against Seton Hall. The Musketeers will then return to Cincinnati where they will host Creighton and Providence next week. Georgetown also returns the court on Saturday with an afternoon tipoff in Nebraska against the Creighton Bluejays. Their conference schedule gets extremely difficult next week with games against their fellow first placed schools. They host Providence on Wednesday before traveling to Villanova next Saturday.