Men's Basketball Opens BIG EAST Tournament Play On Wednesday Night Vs. DePaul At Madison Square Garden

Wednesday, March 11

New York City, N.Y.

9:30 p.m.

Xavier University

DePaul

Men's Basketball Opens BIG EAST Tournament Play On Wednesday Night Vs. DePaul At Madison Square Garden

03.09.20 | Men's Basketball

2020 BET_Xavier vs. DePaul Notes_game 32

The winner of Wednesday's game faces Villanova on Thursday.

By: Tom Eiser, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI --- The No. 7 Xavier University Musketeers, 19-12 overall and 8-10 in the BIG EAST Conference, take on the No. 10 DePaul University Blue Demons, 15-16 overall and 3-15 in the BIG EAST, on Wednesday night in the first round of the 2020 BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York. XU won both of the meetings during the regular season.

This marks only the second time that Xavier has played in the BIG EAST Tournament First Round. The one other time Xavier also faced DePaul, winning 75-64 in the first round of the 2017 tournament.

The winner of Wednesday's game will face No. 2 Villanova on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

THE MATCHUP

NO. 7 SEED XAVIER UNIVERSITY MUSKETEERS (19-12, 8-10 BIG EAST)
NO. 10 SEED DEPAUL UNIVERSITY BLUE DEMONS (15-16, 3-15 BIG EAST)
BIG EAST TOURNAMENT 1ST ROUND --- WED., MARCH 11 AT 9:30 P.M. ET
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN (19,812) IN NEW YORK

TV, RADIO AND LIVE STATS

Television: FS1 with play-by-play from Tim Brando and analysis from Bill Raftery. Lisa Byington is the sideline reporter.
Radio: 700 WLW-AM 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). A radio broadcast will be available on Sirius 137/XM 207 (also on SiriusXM app, channel 966).
Live Stats: Media stats at Statbroadcast.com and fan stats at GoXavier.com.

X FACTORS

• Xavier has only played in the BIG EAST Tournament First Round one other time, defeating DePaul 75-64 in the 2017 tournament.
• Xavier won its first BIG EAST Tournament game in each of its first six tournaments, including 5-0 in the quarterfinals and 1-0 in the first round.
• Xavier, 19-12, is one win shy of its 13th 20-win season in 15 years and 21st 20-win season in 24 years.
• Xavier is ranked 17th in the nation in KenPom defensive efficiency. XU leads the BIG EAST Conference in 3-point field goal percentage defense at 30.4 percent and is third in overall field goal percentage 40.7 percent.
• Xavier had four players earn postseason All-BIG EAST Conference honors, including junior Naji Marshall on the First Team and senior Tyrique Jones on the Second Team. Zach Freemantle and KyKy Tandy were named to the All-Freshman Team.
• Xavier junior Naji Marshall has been selected as one of the five finalists for the 2020 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.
• Xavier's Naji Marshall is the only BIG EAST Conference player that is ranked among the top dozen in the league in scoring (fourth at 16.9 ppg.), rebounding (11th at 6.2 rpg.), assists (seventh at 3.9 apg.) and steals (10th at 1.3 spg.). He leads the team in scoring, assists and steals and is second in rebounding.
• Xavier senior Tyrique Jones leads the BIG EAST and is third in the nation in double-doubles with 21, which is the third-highest single-season total in XU history and just three shy of the school record (24 by Tyrone Hill in 1989-90).
• Xavier's Tyrique Jones leads the BIG EAST (ninth in the nation) in rebounding at 11.2 rpg. Jones leads the BIG EAST (third in the nation) in offensive rebounding at 4.4 rpg. He is ninth on XU's all-time rebounding list with 867 career rebounds.
• Xavier freshman KyKy Tandy averaged 11.6 ppg. for XU's eight BIG EAST wins.
• Xavier has graduated 109 straight men's basketball seniors.

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