With the Big East schedule looming, the No. 9 Xavier Musketeers will get one final test against the unranked Northern Iowa Panthers' (8-3) Friday at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa (9 p.m. ET).
The test figures to be a stiff one. UNI was picked to finish a close No. 2 to Missouri State in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason coaches poll. The Panthers received eight first-place votes to win the league.
Friday's game is also the back-end of a home-and-home series between the two programs, although they saw an interesting twist added to their series more than a year ago when Xavier and UNI met in the championship game of the Tire Pros Invitational in Florida and then played a second-consecutive game just six days later at Cintas Center.