Men's Basketball Takes A Two-Game Winning Streak On The Road To Face Seton Hall

Wednesday, February 20

South Orange, N.J.

7 p.m.

Xavier University

Seton Hall

Men's Basketball Takes A Two-Game Winning Streak On The Road To Face Seton Hall

02.18.19 | Men's Basketball

Xavier Game Notes at Seton Hall

Xavier is coming off an impressive road win at Providence.

By: Tom Eiser, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI --- The Xavier University Musketeers, 13-13 overall and 5-8 in the BIG EAST Conference, take a two-game winning streak on the road to Newark, N.J., on Wednesday to take on the Seton Hall University Pirates, 16-9 overall and 7-6 in the BIG EAST. Seton Hall has won three straight games.

Seton Hall leads the series 11-8, including a win in this season's first meeting in Cincinnati. Xavier suffered an 80-70 loss to Seton Hall on Jan. 2 at Cintas Center despite 22 points from sophomore Paul Scruggs and 20 points from graduate transfer Zach Hankins. Xavier led by 10 points, 56-46, with just over 10 minutes left in the game. XU fell behind late but Scruggs hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 3:44 left to make it 68-all. The Pirates outscored the Musketeers 12-2 to finish the game.

Last year in Newark Xavier erased a 10-point second-half deficit on its way to capturing a 73-64 win at then-No. 19 Seton Hall on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018 at the Prudential Center. The Pirates led 42-32 with under 18 minutes left and still led by five, 57-52 with 6:44 left. J.P. Macura, who scored a game-high 27 points, hit a 3-pointer to start a 15-3 run and an offensive rebound and dunk that ended it. XU had control of the game at 67-60 with 1:28 left.

Xavier won its second straight game with a 75-61 victory at Providence on Saturday. Xavier, which trailed 32-26 at halftime, dominated the second half 49-29, including a 10-0 run to start the half. Xavier enjoyed its second-best shooting effort of the season at 59.2 percent, including a season-high 57.1 percent (8-of-14) from 3-point range. While holding Providence to 30.8 percent second-half shooting, Xavier shot 73.1 percent in the second half, including 6-of-7 (.857) from 3-point range. Tyrique Jones posted his seventh double-double of the season with game-high efforts of 19 points and 12 rebounds. Four Musketeers posted double figures in scoring. XU won the battle of the boards, 37-24.

THE MATCHUP

Xavier University Musketeers (13-13, 5-8 BIG EAST)
Seton Hall University Pirates (16-9, 7-6 BIG EAST)
Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 AT 7:00 p.m. ET
Prudential Center (10,481) in Newark, N.J.

TV, RADIO AND LIVE STATS

Television: CBS Sports Network with play-by-play from Tom McCarthy and analysis from Alaa Abdelnaby.
Xavier Radio: 55KRC-AM, including via iHeart Radio, TuneIn and via Sirius (134), XM (202) and Internet (965) 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, 13-13 overall and 5-8 in the BIG EAST Conference, won its second straight game with a 75-61 win at Providence on Saturday.
• Xavier has four players averaging in double figures in scoring through 26 games and a fifth at 9.9 ppg.
• Xavier sophomore Naji Marshall has been named to the BIG EAST Conference Weekly Honor Roll. Marshall averaged 18.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game in wins this past week over Creighton and at Providence.
• Xavier's Naji Marshall leads the team in scoring (14th in the BIG EAST at 13.8 ppg.) and is second in rebounding (ninth in the BIG EAST at 6.7 rpg.) and assists (12th in BIG EAST at 3.4 apg.).
• Xavier sophomore Paul Scruggs is second on the team in scoring (20th in the BIG EAST at 12.4 ppg.), while leading the team in free-throw percentage (.783) and 3-point field goal percentage (third in the BIG EAST at .438).
• Xavier junior Quentin Goodin, who leads the team in assists (third in BIG EAST at 4.8 apg.), has 408 career assists and is ninth on XU's all-time career assist leader list. He has 106 assists this season in 22 games, his third straight 100+ assist season.
• Xavier junior Tyrique Jones, who led XU with 19 points and 12 rebounds at Providence (seventh double-double this season), leads the team in rebounding (fifth in the BIG EAST at 7.4 rpg.) and offensive rebounding (first in the BIG EAST at 3.3 rpg.).
• Xavier graduate transfer Zach Hankins leads the BIG EAST Conference in field goal percentage (.685) and is second in the BIG EAST in blocks (1.5 bpg.). Hankins is on pace to break the XU single-season field goal percentage mark of former NBA standout Brian Grant (.654 in 1992-93).
• Xavier has graduated 109 straight men's basketball seniors dating back to the 1985-86 school year.

VIDEO: TRAVIS STEELE