Game Thread: Xavier v Houston (12/1/2023)

[paulxu]

VS.


CINCINNATI --- The Xavier University Musketeers, 4-3, host the No. 6 University of Houston Cougars, 7-0, on Friday night at Cintas Center. The two teams have not met since the 1977-78 season.

Friday's game is part of the annual BIG EAST-Big 12 Battle series. XU is 4-0 in past games as part of the series with wins over West Virginia, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and TCU.

THE MATCHUP

XAVIER UNIVERSITY MUSKETEERS (4-3, 0-0 BIG EAST)
NO. 6/5 UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON COUGARS (7-0, 0-0 BIG 12)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2023 AT 6:30 P.M. ET
AT CINTAS CENTER IN CINCINNATI, OHIO

TV, RADIO AND LIVE STATS

Television: FS1 with play-by-play from Matt Schumacker and analysis from Donny Marshall.
Xavier Radio: 700 WLW 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 the Varsity Network and on SXM.


Live Stats: Media stats at Statbroadcast.com and fan stats at GoXavier.com.

[drudy23]

Just win baby. We need it.

[Xville]

X +7.5 . I think Houston covers pretty easily. more athletic and tougher than Purdue. On the other hand, maybe Oakland woke them up a bit.

[bleedXblue]

Cintas will be buzzing. Can we defend these guys and prevent second chance(s)? I think we will be ready and play better than the other night. I think X covers but loses by 5

[X-band '01]

I will go out on a limb and guess that fewer Xavier fans will be selling tickets to Houston fans (back when about 20% of Cintas was filled with IU fans last year).

[American X]

Houston is #1 in KenPom. Can we trade them a case of Skyline to move this to another year?

[GoMuskies]

Coming into the week I definitely would have traded a loss to Oakland for a win against Houston. Hoping against hope that's how it turns out!

[drudy23]

Houston is #1 in KenPom. Can we trade them a case of Skyline to move this to another year?

Why? Don't we want to play highly ranked teams?

[American X]

Why? Don't we want to play highly ranked teams?

Yes, but I would rather have a much better chance to beat them than our current situation. I would love to be shocked later tonight.

[drudy23]

We're like 7 point dogs. We can win this game.

We hung with Purdue just fine on the road. We're not as bad as this board is projecting, and Houston isn't as good. We're not playing 90s Duke or UNLV.