Courtesy of GoXavier.com
CINCINNATI — Xavier University announced three home-and-home series that will start during the upcoming 2016-17 men’s basketball season against three programs that have been a part of at least each of the last two NCAA Tournaments – Utah, Northern Iowa and Baylor. The first two series will start this season at the Cintas Center and the Baylor series will start on the road. Utah was ranked No. 13 in the final AP Poll, Baylor was ranked No. 21 and UNI was receiving votes.
Xavier will host the University of Utah Utes on Saturday, Dec. 10 this season as a part of a home-and-home series. The game will be returned to Utah in the 2017-18 season. This will be the first meeting between Xavier and Utah.
Utah finished 27-9 this past season, earning its second straight NCAA Tournament berth and reaching the NCAA Tournament Round of 32. Utah finished tied for second in the Pac-12 Conference at 13-5. Utah enjoyed late-season wins over No. 9 Arizona and No. 24 California.
In addition to Utah, Xavier will also host two-time defending Missouri Valley Conference Champion Northern Iowa in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. XU hosts UNI on Saturday, Nov. 26 this season and will visit UNI on Friday, Dec. 22, 2017 during the 2017-18 regular season. UNI, 23-13 this past season, earned its seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2004, the most by any MVC team during that period.
UNI defeated Texas in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament before falling to Texas A&M in double overtime in the second round. During the 2015-16 regular season, UNI defeated then-No. 1 North Carolina, then-No. 5 Iowa State and Washington State in their non-conference season and won at then-No. 25 Wichita State in conference play.
This season’s meeting with UNI will serve as a non-bracketed game attached to the 2016 Puerto Rico Tip-Off. It will not count towards Xavier’s allowable regular season game total.
The third home-and-home series that will impact the 2016-17 schedule begins with a road game at Baylor University. The Bears will host XU in the 2016-17 season in Waco, Texas, and return to Cintas Center on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017. The two teams have met twice before with the Bears winning both games on neutral courts, including the 2009 Old Spice Classic in Florida and the 2012 NCAA Regional Semifinal in Atlanta, Ga.
Baylor finished 22-12 this past season and made its school-record third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. Baylor swept an Iowa State team that spent most of the season in the top 15 and also owned two wins over Texas, including one in the Big 12 Championship.
Xavier, 28-6 overall this past season, finished 14-4 and in second place behind eventual National Champion Villanova in the BIG EAST Conference. Xavier’s 28 wins tied for the second-most wins in school history and the 14 BIG EAST wins are a school record as is the final Associated Press Poll ranking of No. 9. The Musketeers have been listed in multiple early 2016-17 preseason top 10 lists, including No. 5 by CBSSports.com.
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