Gold Rush maintain top-25 national ranking

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana men's basketball remained in the NAIA Division I top 25 Tuesday, dropping from 22nd to 23rd.

The Gold Rush are 17-6 overall and 4-2 in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference after a 90-72 home victory Monday against SUNO. XULA's next game will start at 7:30 p.m. Monday against Edward Waters at XULA's Convocation Center.

XULA has won three straight and 11 of its last 13 games under second-year head coach Alfred Williams, and junior guard Jeff Dixon leads NAIA Division I in total assists with 124.

William Penn of Oskaloosa, Iowa, is No. 1 for the second consecutive poll. The Statesmen received all nine first-place votes from the panel of coaches representing each conference and the Association of Independent Institutions. This is the first time this season there's been a unanimous No. 1.
     
Two weeks ago XULA entered the top 25 for the first time since the preseason poll of Oct. 25, 2016. The next rankings will be announced Feb. 13.

NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Jan. 28)  

RANK	PREVIOUS	SCHOOL	RECORD	POINTS
1	1	William Penn (Iowa) (9)	20-1	219
2	4	The Master's (Calif.)	21-1	212
3	5	Columbia (Mo.)	21-1	202
4	3	LSU-Shreveport (La.)	19-2	194
5	2	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	20-2	193
6	12	Pikeville (Ky.)	20-2	188
7	15	Science & Arts (Okla.)	18-3	175
8	16	Montana Western	17-4	166
9	7	Hope International (Calif.)	19-3	159
10	5	Georgetown (Ky.)	19-3	155
11	13	Dalton State (Ga.)	17-4	146
12	9	Central Methodist (Mo.)	19-3	142
13	13	LSU-Alexandria (La.)	17-5	140
14	10	Carroll (Mont.)	18-4	134
15	21	Oklahoma City	15-5	116
16	20	Westmont (Calif.)	16-4	115
17	19	William Carey (Miss.)	15-4	106
18	23	Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)	16-6	103
19	8	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)	17-5	88
20	11	Wayland Baptist (Texas)	15-5	87
21	18	Cumberlands (Ky.)	16-5	74
22	17	Missouri Baptist	18-4	65
23	22	Xavier (La.)	16-6	62
24	RV	Texas Wesleyan	14-7	53
25	25	Life (Ga.)	16-7	48

Others Receiving Votes: Harris-Stowe State (Mo.) 47; Peru State (Neb.) 46; William Jessup (Calif.) 27; Campbellsville (Ky.) 23; Faulkner (Ala.) 14; Graceland (Iowa) 9; Talladega (Ala.) 4; Dillard (La.) 3. 

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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