The annual Crosstown Shootout between No. 11 Cincinnati and No. 21 Xavier will have high stakes with the number of seniors involved. Which fan base gets bragging rights in Cincinnati for the next year?
TV schedule: Saturday, Dec. 2 12:00 p.m. ET. FS1
Arena: Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio
Last season’s edition of the Crosstown Shootout was one of the best in recent memory. Xavier (6-1) led most of the way thanks to a career-high 40 points from Trevon Bluiett. It looked hopeless for Cincinnati (7-0), who struggled at times on offense to keep up. But, thanks to Jacob Evans scoring a team-high 24 points along with now-graduated Troy Caupain chipping in with 16 points and five assists, the Bearcats pulled ahead at the end, 86-78.
Outside of Caupain, most of Mick Cronin’s team comes back for a team that’s not surprisingly one of the best defensive units in college basketball. The Bearcats currently have three players who have the best defensive ratings of all AAC players. Combine the big time defense along with the balanced scoring (six players average between 8.3-13.7 ppg), and there’s a recipe for a team to go into the final four. Their best win so far has bee Wyoming, but the schedule gets much tougher. Along with this game, the next opponents include Florida, Mississippi State, and UCLA.
Xavier was close to being a Final Four team, falling to Gonzaga in the Elite Eight. They return their top two players from a year ago, with Bluiett and JP Macura leading a current top 20 offense in terms of efficiency. While the offense has been solid, the defense has been a work in progress. It’s been as bad as giving up 102 points in a loss to Arizona State and as good as just giving up 63 in a win over a ranked Baylor earlier this week.
Next: Cincy-Xavier by the positions
Cincinnati leads the all-time series 49-32, but Xavier has become close to an elite basketball program in recent years. With the game being played in front of a rowdy Musketeers crowd, and the desire to get revenge for these seniors; in particular, expect Macura and Bluiett to have big games — not necessarily 40 points big, but enough of an impact to pull of t the win.
Prediction: Cincinnati 75 – Xavier 78