VILLANOVA – Another Quad-1 opportunity awaits the Xavier Musketeers on Tuesday night (7 p.m., Fox Sports 1) at Finneran Pavilion, as well as the chance to do something Xavier's never done before: win a Big East Conference game at Villanova.
Xavier (11-1, 1-0) heads to Villanova (7-4, 0-1) riding a seven-game win streak, most recently a win Saturday over Marquette in the conference opener, while the Wildcats have dropped two in a row.
But Villanova's been a tough nut to crack at Finneran Pavilion for the Big East. Since conference realignment (2013-14), the Wildcats have only lost one conference game at the Pavilion (Butler, 2017).
The Musketeers and Wildcats didn't play last season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but both are two of the most experienced teams in the conference, each with a pair of fifth-year seniors who took advantage of the extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic.
Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels both opted to return for a fifth season at Villanova and Xavier's Paul Scruggs and Nate Johnson did the same.
Scruggs and Gillespie have made a combined 259 career appearances with 194 starts between them, which should create a fun battle in the backcourt.
