Xavier v. Texas A&M Corpus Christi: Preview, matchups, keys to the game

It is 29 degrees and snowing here. The wind is blowing so hard that the surface level on the western end of Lake Erie has dropped five feet. Within the next couple of days, we could get nearly a foot of snow. Here is what it looks like in Corpus Christi:

You get the point. It’s nice there. Corpus Christi is even south of Galveston and is not likely to see much snow this week. I don’t know if there is a home weather environment in college basketball, but if there ever has been, it could be in this game. It may not be as bad in Cincy as in NE Ohio come Friday, but I’m guessing the Islanders won’t feel right at home.

They’ll step off the plane with a 0-4 record in D1 games. They beat D3 Trinity by 27, then beat another D3, Howard Payne, by 47. There is a reason Xavier doesn’t play D3 games. Some teams are very good and feature one or two guys good enough to play rotation minutes at a D1. Others are Trinity and Howard Payne. To TAMCC’s credit, they haven’t embarrassed themselves against D1 competition, losing close(ish) games to SMU and Tarleton St before dropping buy games at Kansas and Oklahoma St.

Team fingerprint

Xavier is an inexcusably bad 41% and 355th in the nation at two point shooting. They will also be the best team inside the arc in this game. The Islanders are 38.5% and 363rd. This has the potential to get hilarious. TAMCC is also awful behind the arc, shooting 27.7%. Honestly speaking, Xavier friends, these guys are wretched on offense. They rank 290th for a reason. The thing they do best is not get the ball stolen. They are 159th in the nation there.

On defense, though! Ok, they aren’t exactly peak VCU, but they’re back closer to mediocre. They turn teams over at almost the exact same rate that Xavier does. They defend the arc decently, and try to limit opponents looks there. They don’t necessarily succeed at that, but they do try.

Players

Starting matchups

D’Avian Houston

Point Guard

All Wright

Senior

Class

Sophomore

6’2″, 210

Measurements

6’3″, 190

5/1.8/4.3

Game line

11.1/1.6/2

27/18.8/58.3

Shooting line

27.1/30.8/68.2

Houston has bounced around quite a bit in a college career that began at College of Charleston in the 2020-21 season. He’s never been a super efficient scorer with a .400/.321/.682 shooting line in his career, but his 4.3 assists per game this season are a career best. He has struggled with turnovers some this season, which compounds the Islanders problems at the offensive end.

Nick Shogbonyo

Shooting Guard

Malik Messina-Moore

Senior

Class

Senior

6’1″, 185

Measurements

6’5″, 200

14.5/3/2

Game line

8.1/6.4/3.7

66.7/50/81.8

Shooting line

45.5/16.7/80

He has only played two games this season, and only one of them was against a DI opponent. He was the only player in double digits for TAMCC against Oklahoma State and bolstered some faily solid shooting numbers from the field with an excellent track record of getting to the line and converting last season at Denver.

Kam Parker

Small Forward

Tre Carroll

Senior

Class

Senior

6’2″, 180

Measurements

6’8″, 235

8.5/3.2/2

Game line

15.9/5.7/2.6

41/27.3/100

Shooting line

45.9/42.4/73.1

Parker is in his 3rd year with the program and started 29 games over the previous two seasons. His shooting has definitely picked up in his time at TAMCC and his numbers this season, while down a little overall from last year, have remained pretty steady in the 3 tier A games the Islanders have played this year. He likes to spot up or get to the bucket in equal measure, and converts well at the rim (71%) especially considering his size.

Franck Yetna

Power Forward

Filip Borovicanin

Senior

Class

Senior

6’7″, 215

Measurements

6’9″, 227

8.3/5.2/0.7

Game line

7/3/3.6

43.2/9.1/57.9

Shooting line

27.1/30.8/68.2

Yetna gets his hands to a lot on defense, ranking in the top 400 nationally in block rate and top 150 in steal rate, but he has struggled on offense because he’s shooting 50% on 16 attempts at the rim and 17% on his 12 jumpers. He’s a decent rebounder on the offensive galss, but not on the defensive end.

Sheldon Williams

Center

Jovan Milicevic

Senior

Class

Sophomore

6’8″, 220

Measurements

6’10”, 241

13.5/7.7/1.2

Game line

12.7/2.9/2.9

49.3/44.4/56.3

Shooting line

34.2/31.3/78.4

Williams is shooting essentially the same percentage from three as he is at the rim this season, but there’s no denying that he gets after the glass at both ends. He posted a 14 point 17 rebound double-double against SMU, but his 5-15 shooting line and turnover and foul trouble soured that particular line a bit. Xavier has struggled to stop big men this year, and Williams is the biggest guy in the Islanders’ rotation, so slowing him down will be a key.

Reserves

The Islanders get a decent amount of minute from their bench and can bring in a couple of solid producers when the starters need spelled. First and foremost is Mason Gibson, a guard who is 3rd on the team in scoring at 10.7 ppg. He is shooting 43% from deep this year and hardly ever turns the ball over, but is just 8-23 inside the arc and 3-8 from the line currently. Daniel Michelini-Jackson missed last game, but has started three games and averages 23 mpg. He’s a guard who doesn’t score a lot, but does solid work on the boards and is second on the team in assists, with a 13:4 A:TO on the year. Leo Torbor is a bit of a rarity in today’s game as a 6’3” guard who has attempted just 5 three pointers in his 46 games of DI basketball. He shoots 50% from inside the arc, although that figure drops to 36% against DI opponents, and currently has more turnovers than assists. Kobi Pearson is a 6’8” freshman who slots in at the forward spots who missed the first two games of the season, but has shown some promising signs since joining the rotation. His EFG% is 69% on a .625/.667/.521 line, but he’s also done some true freshman things like turning the ball over a ton and committing 7.7 fouls per 40 minutes. When Pearson isn’t out there splashing shots and slapping people, Jaden Haire is the other big man off the bench. He rebounds well, especially at the defensive end, but is shooting 2-12 from the floor against DI competition and turns the ball over a lot, which drags his ORTG down to 53.3.

Three questions

– Will Xavier bother going inside? Make no mistake, Xavier isn’t good inside the arc. However, TAMCC doesn’t defend well inside. They’re 276th in the nation in interior defense. Maybe some inside Borovicanin? Maybe this is the game where Anthony Robinson can finally do something?

– Failing that, can Xavier stay hot from deep? TAMCC isn’t particularly good at defending the arc, but they’re alright at it. Right now, X is absolutely on fire from deep, shooting 46.2% on 93 attempts over the last three games. Keep that up and they become the best three point shooting team ever. That’s maybe not in the cards, but right now X has found an edge.

– Can X just bury a buy game? Marist and Le Moyne were way too close. Santa Clara, it turns out, is 57th in the NET and not half bad. Doing what the Musketeers did to ODU would be a nice way to close Black Friday.