Xavier Prepares To Take On Butler In The First Round Of The BIG EAST Tournament

Wednesday, March 9

New York, N.Y.

4:30 p.m.

Xavier University

Butler

Xavier Prepares To Take On Butler In The First Round Of The BIG EAST Tournament

03.07.22 | Men's Basketball

Xavier BIG EAST Tournament Notes/Records

Musketeers and Bulldogs are meeting for the second straight year in the tournament.

By: Tom Eiser, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI ---The No. 8 seed Xavier University Musketeers take on the No. 9 seed Butler University Bulldogs on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Xavier and Butler are meeting in the BIG EAST Tournament first round for the second straight year.

Xavier, 18-12 overall and 8-11 in the BIG EAST Conference, closed the regular season with a 97-75 win over Georgetown on Saturday.

The winner of Wednesday's game draws No. 1 seed Providence in the quarterfinals at noon on Thursday.

THE MATCHUP

NO. 8 SEED XAVIER UNIVERSITY MUSKETEERS (18-12, 8-11 BIG EAST)
NO. 9 SEED BUTLER UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS (13-18, 6-14 BIG EAST)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2022 AT 4:30 P.M. ET
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN (20,789) IN NEW YORK

TV, RADIO & LIVE STATS

Television: FS1 with play-by-play from Tim Brando and analysis from Bill Raftery. Kristina Pink is the sideline reporter.
Radio: 700 WLW-AM with play-by-play from Xavier Hall of Famer Joe Sunderman ('79) and analysis from XU all-time leading scorer and Hall of Famer Byron Larkin ('88). XU broadcast is also on Sirius (138), XM (206) and the Sirius XM App. (969).
Live Stats: Media stats at Statbroadcast.com and fan stats at GoXavier.com.

X FACTORS

• Xavier, 18-12 overall and 8-11 in the BIG EAST Conference, closed the regular season with a dominant 97-75 win over Georgetown. XU is 36th in the NCAA NET.
• Xavier junior Jack Nunge, who was named All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention by the league coaches, leads the team in scoring at 13.1 ppg. and in blocks at 1.4 bpg. He is second in rebounding at 7.5 rpg.
• Xavier senior Paul Scruggs, who is eighth in the BIG EAST in assists at 4.0 apg., is second on the team in scoring at 11.9 ppg.
• Xavier's Paul Scruggs is 15th on XU's all-time scoring list with 1,602 points. He is fifth on XU's all-time assist list with 497. Scruggs and Tu Holloway are the only
Musketeers who are in the top 15 in all-time scoring and top five in all-time assists.
• Xavier senior Nate Johnson, who missed four games with a knee injury, averaged 18.0 ppg. for the two games since his return. Johnson led XU with 25 points on the strength of a Xavier career-high tying seven 3-pointers vs. Georgetown on Saturday.
• Xavier sophomore Colby Jones is eighth in the BIG EAST in overall rebounding (7.6 rpg.) and seventh in offensive rebounding (2.6 rpg.). He is third on the team in scoring (11.0 ppg.; 15.8 ppg. over the last four games) and second in assists (3.0 apg.).
• Xavier has four players averaging in double figures in scoring from 10.4 ppg. to 13.1 ppg. and a fifth player at 9.8 ppg. XU, which has had eight different players lead the team in scoring this season, had 32 assists on 35 field goals vs. Georgetown.

STEELE PRESSER