Men's Basketball Hosts Villanova On Tuesday Night

Tuesday, February 17

Cincinnati, Ohio

6:30 p.m.

Xavier University

Villanova

Buy Tickets

Men's Basketball Hosts Villanova On Tuesday Night

02.16.26 | Men's Basketball

GAME NOTES VS. VILLANOVA

This is the first meeting of the season between the two teams.

By: Tom Eiser, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI --- The Xavier University Musketeers, 13-12 overall and 5-9 in the BIG EAST Conference, host the Villanova University Wildcats, 20-5 overall and 11-3 in the BIG EAST, on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. at Cintas Center. Xavier is coming off a 96-88 win over Marquette on Saturday, while Villanova enters the game with a five-game winning streak.

Tuesday night's game is a BIG EAST Black Fives game. For the fifth consecutive season, the BIG EAST Conference is partnering with the BlackFives Foundation, a nonprofit public charity dedicated to inspiring excellence in youth by preserving, teaching, and honoring the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball. BIG EAST players will wear shooting shirts featuring the team logos of historical BlackFives basketball teams and Xavier has a group performing Lift Every Voice and Sing prior to the National Anthem. From the early 1900s through the 1940s, these teams played in ballrooms, gymnasiums and other venues located within the same geographic footprint as many of the BIG EAST schools today and together played a crucial role in breaking down racial barriers in American sports during the early to mid-20th century.

BROADCAST AND LIVE STATS INFORMATION

TV/Stream: FS1 with play-by-play from Jack Kizer and analysis from Nick Bahe.
Xavier Radio: 700 WLW with play-by-play from XU 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 available on the Xavier Musketeers App., Varsity Network and the Sirius XM App.
Live Stats: Media stats at Statbroadcast.com and fan stats at GoXavier.com.

X FACTORS

• Xavier has played 14 of its 20 BIG EAST games but this is the first meeting of the season vs. Villanova. The Musketeers visit the Wildcats in the regular season finale on March 7.
• Xavier, 13-12 overall and 5-9 in the BIG EAST Conference, is coming off a 96-88 win over Marquette. XU matched a season-high with 16 3-point field goals, which is tied for the second-highest total in Xavier history.
• Xavier graduate student Tre Carroll leads the BIG EAST in scoring at 18.0 ppg. and is third in field goal percentage at 49.7 percent. He is second on the team and 11th in the league in rebounding (5.7 rpg.) and first on the team and sixth in blocks (1.3 bpg.).
• Xavier sophomore Jovan Milićević, who was named to this week's BIG EAST Conference Honor Roll (second time this season), scored a collegiate career-high 23 points while hitting 5-7 3-pointers vs. Marquette. Milićević is second on the team in scoring at 11.7 ppg. and eighth in the BIG EAST in 3-point field goals per game (2.0).
• Xavier senior Filip Borovićanin leads the team in rebounding (fourth in the BIG EAST at 8.0 rpg.) and assists (fifth at 4.4 apg.) and is second in assist-to-turnover ratio (third in the BIG EAST at 2.66). Borovićanin posted his second-straight and ninth double-double of the season (third in the BIG EAST) with 15 points and 11 rebounds with seven assists vs. Marquette.
• Xavier senior Malik Messina-Moore is second on the team in scoring for BIG EAST games at 13.8 ppg., which ranks 16th in the league. He is seventh in the BIG EAST in assists at 3.9 apg. and is second in the BIG EAST in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.72 after dishing a career-high 11 assists with just one turnover on Saturday vs. Marquette.
• Xavier has five players averaging in double figures in scoring. Xavier is 11-4 when it has four or more players score in double figures.
• Xavier leads the BIG EAST and is 12th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.77. XU is second in the BIG EAST in assists and 18th in the nation at 17.9 apg.