NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana, with three starters among seven returning lettermen, will open its 78th men's basketball season at 7 p.m. Thursday against Webber International at the Convocation Center.
The Gold Rush, 24-10 last season, are ranked 19th in NAIA Division I.
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Xavier is in a familiar position, opening the regular season at home for the 22nd consecutive season. Xavier won its last 19 openers, 16 by double digits.
Xavier will be led on the floor by Morris Wright, a 5-foot-10 senior point guard from Zachary, La., a two-time All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference selection and the 2015-16 GCAC Preseason Player of the Year. Wright averaged 14.9 points per game last season, 24.0 in the final three games, and is XU's career leader in 3-point field-goal percentage, .424.
The other returning starters are 6-8 senior forward Jarvis Thibodeaux and 6-2 sophomore guard Lucas Martin-Julien. Thibodeaux averaged 5.8 points and a team-best 5.6 rebounds. Martin-Julien did not play last season because of injury but averaged 8.8 points in 2013-14 and earned a share of the GCAC Freshman of the Year award.
The other returning lettermen are 6-4 guard/forward RJ Daniels (5.1 points per game), 6-9 forward Charles Savoy (1.1), 6-1 guard Gary Smith (5.2) and 6-7 forward Wesley Pluviose-Philip (4.9). Pluviose-Philip is a junior, and the other three are seniors.
There are six newcomers: 6-7 sophomore forward Chris Ward, 6-1 junior guard Seth Jackson, 6-5 freshman guard Leland Alexander, 6-6 senior forward Kevin Murph, 6-foot freshman guard Innocent Kukulu and 6-7 sophomore forward Elex Carter.
Dannton Jackson, 273-117 at Xavier with five GCAC regular-season championships and nine appearances at the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship, is in his 13th season as head coach. Jackson enters the season with active streaks of five 20-win seasons, five appearances at nationals and an NAIA-leading 51 top-25 appearances. Jackson is the all-time winningest Gold Rush coach.
Webber International, an NAIA Division II school in Babson Park, Fla., returns five of its top seven scorers from a 13-19 team of a year ago. Senior center Dewaine Lyals averaged 12.1 and a team-best 7.0 rebounds.
This is the fourth season of basketball in the Convocation Center, a $25 million facility which seats nearly 4,000. The Gold Rush are 41-12 in the building, 15-6 last season. Xavier will play 17 times at home during the regular season and play its second home game at 6 p.m. Friday against Carver College.
NOTES: Carter, from LaPlace, La., is a transfer from NCAA Division I's Southern University. He was Class 5A All-State first team and on the NOLA.com All-New Orleans Area Large Schools team as a senior (2012-13) at East St. John High School . . . Ward, from Horn Lake, Miss., transferred from Northeast Mississippi Community College, where he averaged 2.9 points and 3.3 rebounds last season and shot 54.2 percent from the floor. He helped Horn Lake High School win a pair of district championships . . . Kukulu, from Staten Island, N.Y., was All-Staten Island second team by the New York Daily News his senior year (2013-14) at Curtis High School . . . Home ticket prices are the same as last year — $10 for ages 13 and older, free for ages 12 and younger and for XU students, faculty and staff with a valid ID.
Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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