Xavier, Marquette seek responses from road setbacks
Teams coming off difficult road losses meet Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati as Xavier takes on Marquette in a Big East rematch.
Xavier (12-12, 4-9 Big East) is coming off an 87-82 overtime loss on Monday to No. 17 St. John's while Marquette (9-16, 4-10) blew a late nine-point lead Tuesday against Villanova.
In their first meeting on Jan. 7 in Milwaukee, Marquette came away with a 66-65 win, one of three one-point losses this season for Xavier. Marquette forward Ben Gold's putback dunk in the final minute of regulation proved to be the game-winner for the Golden Eagles.
Gold finished with 10 points and had five of Marquette's 19 offensive rebounds.
Rebounding remains an issue for the Musketeers, who have relied on strong guard and wing play this season without much size in the middle.
Xavier did not outrebound any of its last five opponents and was beaten 47-34 on the boards in the first matchup with Marquette.
In Monday's loss at Madison Square Garden, St. John's grabbed three offensive rebounds on its final possession of regulation before hitting a game-tying tip-in.
"We had a chance to win it. I'm proud of the effort. They're great kids. I really believe in what we're building," Xavier head coach Richard Pitino said.
Xavier, which has lost two straight games and five of six, is trying to avoid falling below .500 for the first time since finishing the 2023-24 season with a 16-18 mark.
One game after scoring a career-high 18 points, Marquette freshman Adrien Stevens matched that total last time out versus Villanova. In the last two games, Stevens made 11 of 22 shots and was 10-of-19 (52.6%) from behind the 3-point line.
Stevens knocked down a career-best six treys against Butler on Feb. 7 and reached double figures in three of the past four games.
Royce Parham finished with a career night at Villanova, posting his first double-double -- and the team's first this season -- with a 26-point, 11-rebound effort in 37 minutes. Parham averaged 17.1 points over his last seven games.
"Just my coaches trusting in me," Parham said. "They believed in me and were calling up a lot of plays for me (against Villanova). I was kind of being more assertive today, too. I just kept going, flowing with that."