IUPUI VS. XAVIER

HOW TO WATCH

Time: Tuesday, November 6, 8:30 p.m. ET

TV: FS2 (Rich Waltz, Jordan Cornette)

Watch Online: Fox Sports Go

The Xavier Musketeers welcome the IUPUI Jaguars to Cintas Center to begin the 2018-19 campaign. The Musketeers obviously have a much different look this season, with Chris Mack, Trevon Bluiett, JP Macura, Kerem Kanter, and Kaiser Gates all having departed the program. That seems like a lot, but Mack left new head coach Travis Steele with a very solid roster containing Quentin Goodin, Tyrique Jones, Naji Marshall, Paul Scruggs, and others. Steele also made a couple additions to the roster, luring in three grad transfers (Ryan Welage, Zach Hankins, and Kyle Castlin) all of whom can make an impact for the Musketeers this season.

While they lose a lot of scoring in those departures, it’s not crazy to think Goodin, Jones, Marshall, and Scruggs all take the next step in their development and manage to pick up some of the slack on offense. Scruggs was also excellent on defense in Big East play last season, so it will be interesting to see if that continues against a Jaguars team that had one of the nation’s worst offenses last year.

IUPUI finished the season 2017-18 season at 11-19 and ranked #284 on KenPom. They begin the 2018-19 season at #286 on KenPom. There are only 353 teams. The Jaguars are far overmatched.

To make things even worse for IUPUI, their top three scorers from last year (Aaron Brennan, TJ Henderson, and Ron Patterson) each either graduated or transferred, which means the leading returning scorer is forward Evan Hall’s 7.7 points per game.

It’s hard to imagine this game being competitive on either end of the court, and it should be a nice way for the Musketeers to begin their new era.