Georgetown-Xavier Preview

GEORGETOWN

Georgetown hasn't lost 3 games to one opponent in a single season in 10 years, and Xavier may have to stop D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera to end that run.

A day after almost single-handedly putting the NO. 23 Hoyas in the Big East semifinals, Smith-Rivera looks to lead them to their first conference title game in five years Friday night against the Musketeers at Madison Square Garden.

Second-seeded Georgetown (21-9; BE 12-6) has lost 3 of 3 against Xavier (20-12) since they became conference rivals last season. 

The Hoyas dropped both meetings this season by an average of 15.0 points while shooting 37.8%, including 22.9 from 3-point range.

The last team to beat them 3 times in a season was Connecticut in 2004-05.

Smith-Rivera will likely play a large role in avoiding such a dubious feat. The junior guard is averaging 20.7 points while hitting 46.5 percent of his 3s over the last 6 games and was particularly outstanding in Thursday's 60-55 win over Creighton.

After scoring 12 of Georgetown's final 14 points, Smith-Rivera finished with 25 and showed no ill effects of a knee injury that sidelined him for one game.

"We got to the point where we needed someone to step up," coach John Thompson III said. "You've heard me say all year, when we need baskets, everyone knows who we're going to. ... He answered."

That hasn't been the case against Xavier, which has limited Smith-Rivera to an average of 14.5 points in the previous 4 matchups. He had a team-high 13 while missing 9 of 14 shots in a 66-53 home loss Jan. 27.

Joshua Smith had 10 points in each prior matchup and also scored that many Thursday.

XAVIER

The sixth-seeded Musketeers are in the hunt for their first conference final appearance since losing to Saint Bonaventure in the 2012 Atlantic-10 championship. 

They fell to the Creighton Bluejays in the semifinals of last year's Big East tournament.

Getting past that round this time would require beating a ranked opponent for the sixth time in 8 tries this season. Xavier kept that success going Thursday, defeating No. 22 Butler 67-61 in OT.

Coach Chris Mack didn't seem to have a problem motivating his Musketeers.

"Everybody's been talking about the Butler-Georgetown matchup in the semifinals and it was a little disrespectful because they have to play us first," Mack said. "Our guys are competitors. We felt like if we played at our best, that we would advance and that's exactly what we did."

Myles Davis is averaging 8.8 points in 4 games, but he had 13 on Thursday to join four other Musketeers in double figures. The sophomore guard was one of 4 to do that against the Hoyas in January with 19 points.

Matt Stainbrook added 12 in that meeting. The senior center enters this one with 39 points and 19 rebounds while making 16 of 22 from the floor over the last two games.

The winner will face top-seeded Villanova or fourth-seeded Providence in Saturday's championship game.