Men's Basketball Prepares To Host St. John's In Regular Season Finale On Saturday

Saturday, March 9

Cincinnati, Ohio

5:00 PM

Xavier University

St. John's

Men's Basketball Prepares To Host St. John's In Regular Season Finale On Saturday

03.07.19 | Men's Basketball

Xavier Game Notes vs. St. John's

XU looking to even its BIG EAST record.

By: Tom Eiser, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI --- The Xavier University Musketeers, 16-14 overall and 8-9 in the BIG EAST Conference, play their final home game of the 2018-19 season on Saturday vs. St. John's, 20-10 overall and 8-9 in the BIG EAST. XU is looking to bounce back after having its five-game winning streak snapped at Butler on Tuesday night.

Xavier will honor its three graduate transfers Kyle Castlin, Zach Hankins and Ryan Welage before the game as well as all five of its senior student managers: Quinn Douglas, Spike Murray, Collin Southworth, Josh Theis and Deshaun Williams. "Senior Day" festivities will begin at 4:40 p.m.

The Musketeers leads the series 10-3, including eight straight wins over the Red Storm. XU, which won the first meeting this season 84-73 at St. John's on Feb. 28, beat SJU three times last season, including 88-82 at Cintas Center (1-17-18). Sophomore Naji Marshall led all scorers with a career-high 31 points, including a career-high tying five 3-pointers, to go with six rebounds and three steals on Feb. 28 in New York.

Xavier will welcome its three millionth men's basketball fan to Cintas Center on Saturday. Xavier has drawn 2,995,198 fans for men's basketball since Cintas Center opened, an average of 10,085 fans per game for the 297 games played in the arena.

THE MATCHUP

Xavier University Musketeers (16-14, 8-9 BIG EAST)
St. John's University Red Storm (20-10, 8-9 BIG EAST)
Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. ET
Cintas Center (10,224) in Cincinnati

TV, RADIO AND LIVE STATS

Television: FOX, including FOX 19 in Cincinnati, with play-by-play from Justin Kutcher and analysis from Donny Marshall. FOX 19 will air a live post-game show.
Radio: 700 WLW-AM, including via iHeart Radio, TuneIn and via Sirius (99), XM (207) and Internet (966) 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 will honor its three graduate transfers and all of its senior student managers before the game. The "Senior Day" festivities are set to start at 4:40 p.m.
• Xavier and St. John's are playing for the second time in three games. XU won at SJU 84-73 on Feb. 28.
• Xavier is less than 5,000 fans shy of welcoming its three millionth men's basketball fan at Cintas Center. XU is averaging 10,278 through 16 home games this season.
• Xavier, 16-14 overall and 8-9 in the BIG EAST Conference, had its five-game winning streak snapped at Butler on Tuesday, 71-66.
• Xavier has five players averaging in double figures in scoring through 30 games.
• Xavier needs a win over St. John's to clinch its 37th straight season at .500 or better in conference play (MCC, Atlantic 10 and BIG EAST).
• Xavier sophomore Naji Marshall, who led Xavier with a career-high 31 points in the win at St. John's on Feb. 28, has averaged 20.9 ppg. over the last seven games.
• Xavier's Naji Marshall leads the team in scoring (13th in the BIG EAST at 14.9 ppg.) and is second in rebounding (ninth in the BIG EAST at 6.7 rpg.) and assists (11th in BIG EAST at 3.3 apg.).
• Xavier soph. Paul Scruggs is XU's second-leading scorer (20th in the BIG EAST at 11.9 ppg.) and team leader in 3-point percentage (fifth in the BIG EAST at .417).
• Xavier junior Quentin Goodin, who leads the team in assists (third in BIG EAST at 4.6 apg.), has 422 career assists and is ninth on XU's all-time career assist leader list. He has 120 assists this season in 26 games, his third straight 100+ assist season.
• Xavier junior Tyrique Jones leads XU in rebounding (third in the BIG EAST at 7.8 rpg.) and offensive rebounding (first in BIG EAST and 15th in the nation at 3.4 rpg.).
• Xavier graduate transfer Zach Hankins leads the BIG EAST Conference in field goal percentage (.675) and is second in the BIG EAST in blocks (1.5 bpg.).

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