Top Seed Xavier Takes On St. John's At The 2018 BIG EAST Tournament

Thursday, March 8

Madison Square Garden

12 p.m.

Xavier University

St. John's

Top Seed Xavier Takes On St. John's At The 2018 BIG EAST Tournament

03.08.18 | Men's Basketball

Xavier Notes/Guide for BIG EAST Tournament

Musketeers won the 2018 BIG EAST Regular Season Championship.

By: Tom Eiser, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI — Top seed Xavier, 27-4, takes on No. 9 seed St. John's, 16-16, on Thursday in the BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden. St. John's defeated Georgetown on Wednesday night to advance to the quarterfinals.

THE MATCHUP

No. 1 Seed Xavier University Musketeers (27-4, 15-3 BIG EAST)
No. 9 Seed St. John's University Red Storm (16-16, 4-14 BIG EAST)
AT BIG EAST TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS
Thursday, March 8, 2018 at Noon ET at Madison Square Garden

TV, RADIO AND LIVE STATS

Television: FS1 with play-by-play from Justin Kutcher and Jim Jackson.
Xavier Radio: 700 WLW-AM, including via iHeart Radio, with play-by-play from XU Hall of Famer and former Musketeer standout Joe Sunderman ('79). Analysis will be provided by Xavier Hall of Famer and XU all-time leading scorer Byron Larkin ('88). Live Stats: Media stats at Statbroadcast.com. Fan stats at GoXavier.com.

X-FACTORS

• Xavier leads the series with St. John's 8-3, including six straight wins over the Red Storm, but the two teams have never met in the BIG EAST Tournament.
• Xavier is No. 3 in the Associated Press Poll and No. 2 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, XU's 14th straight week in the top 15 of both major polls, including 12th in 14 weeks in the top 10. XU is No. 3 in the NCAA Official RPI (3-5-18).
• Xavier senior National Player of the Year candidate Trevon Bluiett is sixth in the BIG EAST in scoring at 19.4 ppg. He has scored 2,187 points, good for second on XU's all-time scoring list. His 310 career 3-pointers set a new school record.
• Xavier's Trevon Bluiett was a unanimous selection by league coaches to the BIG EAST First Team. Bluiett, a three-time All-BIG EAST First Team member, is one of only 13 players in BIG EAST history to be named to the First Team three times.
• Xavier senior J.P. Macura is 20th on XU's all-time scoring list with 1,427 points.
• Xavier sophomore Quentin Goodin is third in the BIG EAST in assists at 5.0 apg. and assist/turnover ratio at 2.17.
• Xavier freshman Naji Marshall was a unanimous selection by league coaches to the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team.
• Xavier ninth-year head coach Chris Mack, a semifinalist for the 2018 Naismith National Coach of the Year, is XU's all-time wins leader at 213-95.
• Xavier, 27-4, has secured its fifth straight 20-win season and 12th in 13 years. The 27 wins break the school record for most regular season victories.
• Xavier, a 2017 NCAA Elite Eight team, has made it to at least the Sweet 16 six times in the last 10 years, one of only eight schools that can say that. XU is one of only eight schools have been to at least 11 of the last 12 NCAA tournaments.
• Xavier has graduated 105 straight men's basketball seniors dating back to the 1985-86 school year.

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