Xavier Musketeers confirm home game with Houston Cougars in 2023 Big East-Big 12 Battle
The Xavier University Musketeers men's basketball team will host the University of Houston Cougars next season in the 2023 Big East-Big 12 Battle.
Xavier confirmed Thursday that the Musketeers will play Houston on Friday, Dec. 1. Tipoff time will be announced later.
Houston was a No. 1 seed in last month's 2023 NCAA tournament. The Cougars finished the season with a 33-4 record, losing in the Big Dance to the Miami Hurricanes in the Sweet 16 days after a first-round win against the Northern Kentucky Norse.
Xavier is 0-2 against Houston, with the losses coming on the road in Dec. 1977 and Dec. 1972.
Last August, the Big East and Big 12 announced a two-year extension of the series, which started during the 2019-20 season. XU/Houston will be one of 11 games in next season's series, four of them on Dec. 1.
XU defeated West Virginia last December in the 2022 Big East-Big 12 Battle. WVU head coach Bob Huggins said before the two teams met that he doesn't "have any good thoughts of Xavier whatsoever."
Huggins, who was the head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats from 1989 to 2005, said last month that he feels sorry for his former team, Houston and others joining the Big 12 Conference because they have "absolutely no idea what they're getting into."
Huggins' Mountaineers will host St. John's, led by new head coach Rick Pitino, in next season's series. UC, UCF and BYU, soon to be members of the Big 12 along with Houston, are not scheduled to have Big East-Big 12 Battle matchups this year because there are only 11 teams in the Big East.
With additional wins against TCU (2019), Oklahoma (2020) and Oklahoma State (2021), the Musketeers' record in the series since it began is 4-0.
The matchups are jointly determined by the two conferences, with the home team choosing the venue of its game.
BIG EAST-Big 12 Battle Schedule
November 30: Texas Tech at Butler and Creighton at Oklahoma State
December 1: Houston at Xavier, Iowa State at DePaul, Connecticut at Kansas and St John's at West Virginia
December 2: TCU at Georgetown
December 5: Texas at Marquette, Providence at Oklahoma, Villanova at Kansas State and Seton Hall at Baylor
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Xavier confirms home game with Houston in 2023 Big East-Big 12 Battle
