Poplar leads Villanova against Xavier after 22-point showing

Villanova Wildcats (11-6, 4-2 Big East) at Xavier Musketeers (10-7, 2-4 Big East)

Cincinnati; Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. EST

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Musketeers -3; over/under is 147.5

BOTTOM LINE: Villanova visits Xavier after Wooga Poplar scored 22 points in Villanova's 80-68 loss to the St. John's Red Storm.

The Musketeers have gone 8-2 at home. Xavier ranks fifth in the Big East with 32.7 points per game in the paint led by Zach Freemantle averaging 10.0.

The Wildcats are 4-2 in Big East play. Villanova has a 1-1 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

Xavier makes 46.2% of its shots from the field this season, which is 3.2 percentage points higher than Villanova has allowed to its opponents (43.0%). Villanova averages 10.5 made 3-pointers per game this season, 3.9 more made shots on average than the 6.6 per game Xavier gives up.

The matchup Tuesday is the first meeting this season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Freemantle is shooting 52.4% and averaging 17.4 points for the Musketeers.

Jhamir Brickus is averaging 11.2 points and 5.6 assists for the Wildcats.

LAST 10 GAMES: Musketeers: 4-6, averaging 79.2 points, 30.4 rebounds, 16.3 assists, 6.5 steals and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 46.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.2 points per game.

Wildcats: 8-2, averaging 78.7 points, 30.2 rebounds, 14.5 assists, 4.8 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 49.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.5 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.