Jones finished with just 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting but got going late with a flurry of drives to the rim in the final minutes of regulation. David Joplin led Marquette with 18 and guard Stevie Mitchell was huge down the stretch, scoring seven straight to cut Xavier's lead to 53-49 at the final media timeout.

Xavier plays five of its next seven games on the road over the next 26 days beginning with a Quadrant 1 opportunity in Milwaukee Saturday afternoon.