UNBEATEN GOLD RUSH RISE TO NUMBER 9

NEW ORLEANS — Unbeaten Xavier University of Louisiana moved from 10th to ninth in the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 on Monday.
     It’s the highest rank for the XU men since Feb. 13, 2008, when they were eighth. It’s the first time since the 2003-04 season that the Gold Rush made the top 10 in consecutive polls.
     Xavier (10-0) won 85-66 at Loyola in their only game of the past week. It’s the first time since 1983-84 and just the second time since World War II that the XU men won their first 10 games.
     Coupled with XU’s No. 15 rank in the women’s poll, it’s the first time since Feb. 3, 2004, that both XU basketball teams are ranked in the top 15. Xavier is one of three NAIA Division I schools — the others are Westminster (Utah) and Azusa Pacific — with both basketball teams in the top 15 this week.
     Xavier’s men will play twice before Christmas: 4 p.m. Saturday at William Carey, which received votes in the poll, and 7 p.m. next Monday at NCAA Division I Southern University. The next Gold Rush home game will start at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 6 against Concordia of Alabama.