The 2018–19 Xavier Musketeers men's basketball team represented

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 studen ...

during the

2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 6, 2018. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season concluded with the Final Four in Minneapolis on April 8, 2019. Practices officially began on Septembe ...

as a member of the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

. Led by first-year head coach

Travis Steele Travis Andrew Steele (born November 12, 1981) is an American college basketball coach, and current head basketball coach at Miami University (OH). He recently served as the head coach at Xavier. Coaching career Steele began coaching as an unde ...

, they played their home games at the

Cintas Center The Cintas Center is a 10,250-seat multi-purpose arena and conference center at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. The arena officially opened in 2000 and was constructed through private donations as part of Xavier University's Century Campaign ...

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. Xavier finished the season 19–16, 9–9 in Big East play to finish in third place. In the Big East tournament, Xavier beat Creighton in the quarterfinals before losing to Villanova in the semifinals. The Musketeers failed to receive a bid to the NCAA tournament, but received an at-large bid to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

. There they defeated

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

in the first round before losing in overtime to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in the second round.

Previous season

The

Musketeers A musketeer (french: mousquetaire) was a type of soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern warfare particularly in Europe as they normally comprised the majority of their infantry. The musketeer was a pre ...

finished the 2017–18 season 29–6, 15–3 in Big East play to win the Big East championship. In the Big East tournament, they defeated St. John's before losing to

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

in the semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed in the West region. In the First Round, they defeated

Texas Southern Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,000 ...

before being upset by

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

in the Second Round. On March 27, 2018, Chris Mack was hired as the new head coach of

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, leaving Xavier after nine seasons. Four days later, longtime assistant coach Travis Steele was named the new head coach of the Musketeers.

Offseason

Departures

Incoming transfers

Recruiting classes

2018 recruiting class

Honors and awards

Street & Smith's Preseason Awards * All-Newcomer - Ryan Welage * All-Sharpshooter - Ryan Welage

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Exhibition , - !colspan=9 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Big East regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Big East tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NIT

Rankings

*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Xavier Musketeers men's basketball team Xavier Musketeers men's basketball seasons Xavier Xavier