Chance Westry resurrected his career at UAB. Can he lead Xavier back to the the NCAA Tournament?

Finally healthy, Westry turned into a matchup nightmare.

Chance Westry has navigated one of the toughest paths of any player in college basketball — and if he produces at Xavier anything like he did at UAB last season, Big East fans are about to hear his name a lot more.

Once considered a top 50 prospect in his high school class, injuries ultimately derailed the first three years of his career.

Knee surgery prior to his freshman season at Auburn resulted in just 11 games played. He sat the next season as a medical redshirt at Syracuse.

Westry didn’t have any better luck the following year at Syracuse, appearing in just three games and taking only one field goal attempt with the Orange before his career there was finished.

Surgeries on both knees essentially cost him two full seasons before Westry headed south to play for Andy Kennedy at UAB last summer.

He’d played in just 14 games in three years since graduating from a high school — and in this era of roster upheaval, even a year away from the court feels like an eternity.

But Westry finally emerged into the player scouts envisioned at UAB: a point guard with outstanding vision complemented by terrific size (6’6) and strength.

Westry was a consistent double-double threat by season’s end, and he earned American Athletic Conference Second Team honors after putting up 15.5 points, 5.5 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.

Now, he’s the headliner of Richard Pitino’s impressive transfer haul — a class that 247 Sports ranks as the 17th best in the nation.

What Makes Westry Intriguing?

There are shades of another jumbo-sized point guard from Pennsylvania when watching Westry carve up defenses — he’s reminiscent of Tyreke Evans, the former Memphis star from Chester, PA who later enjoyed a long NBA career.

Like Evans, Westry is productive despite below-average shooting numbers beyond the arc (24% on 87 attempts at UAB). And while neither played well above the rim, both were not just tall, but physically punishing.

Westry wasted little time making an impact once he returned to health. He averaged 16.9 points, 4.5 assists, and 2.0 steals per game in November, and his play only improved throughout the year.

He set an American Conference record with 15 assists in the conference tournament, and closed his season with three consecutive games of 10+ assists.

Over half of Westry’s possessions came in the pick-and-roll game at UAB, and he had a terrific assist-turnover ratio (177 assists vs. 61 turnovers).

Here are some figures that tell the story of his game:

• Westry took 6.1 free throws per game, as his 56.3% Free Throw Rate ranked in the 93rd percentile in the country.

• He played through contact all year, converting 23 and-1s.

• UAB’s Net Rating (point differential per 100 possessions) was +12.5 with Westry on the floor — by far the best mark on the club (+5.3 was the second best).

• His 8.5 points per game in the paint ranked in the 97th percentile, while he shot an outstanding 70% at the rim.

• Westry scored 20+ points in 11 games and had 10+ assists four times.

• Over the final 10 games of the season, Westry averaged 16.7 points and 7.8 assists per game for a UAB team that finished 20-12 overall and 11-7 in the American.

Standout Performances

He had a number of huge games last season — scoring 20+ in four of the first five games of the year. This included a 22-point, 6-assist, 5-rebound effort in a win over High Point (a team that won 31 games and beat Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA Tournament).

Westry set a career-high with 31 points against Cleveland State, had 24 points and six assists against new Providence coach Bryan Hodgson and USF in early January, and went for 20 points, 11 assists, and eight boards in a March win over Charlotte.

The game against USF was a battle. UAB trailed by 11 with under six minutes left, but came back to win it in double overtime. Westry took 13 free throws and made big buckets late:

Here is Westry coming up big (24 points, 8 assists) in a great game against Temple:

What are the Biggest Question Marks?

Here’s hoping Westry’s injuries are a thing of the past. The two biggest question marks for the new Xavier point guard will be centered around remaining healthy and his jump shot.

His game is similar to former Xavier guard Desmond Claude, and Claude worked out just fine (16.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists as a sophomore at X) despite shooting 23% from three in his final season in the Big East.

Claude played off the ball, however, while Westry will run the show for a Xavier team that has been almost completely overhauled.

A Look at the Film

In each of these transfer portal deep cuts, we’ll show 3-4 minutes of unfiltered possessions from late in the season to give our readers an honest look at the Big East’s newcomers. Here is Westry in March, with tape including makes, misses, assists, and turnovers:

The Final Word

The addition of Westry served as a bit of a statement for Xavier this spring — a program that looked to have lagged in terms of portal spending in Pitino’s first spring.

The Muskies added five players who averaged in double figures last season, with Westry, big man Michael Nwoko (13.4 at LSU), Tru Washington (11.9 at Miami), Nikolaos Chitikoudis (11.1 at Robert Morris), and Ruben Dominguez (10.2 at Texas A&M) headlining a very good portal haul.

With the 6’10 Jovan Milicevic returning following a productive year, and talented wing Gabriel Pozzato back after missing last season, Xavier has the potential to be a real factor in the Big East.

Westry will have all sorts of options to set up teammates next year, as he continues to build upon one of the better comeback stories in the country.

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