By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Xavier has found a replacement for the Dec. 23 men's basketball game, which was tentatively scheduled at Texas.

Instead, Xavier will travel to Ames, Iowa, that night to play Iowa State after Texas pulled out of the original deal. The deal with Iowa State is a home-and-home series in which Iowa State will play at Cintas Center during the 2004-05 season. Unlike the proposed Texas deal, however, the Xavier-Iowa State game is not scheduled to be televised on ESPN.

"We haven't gotten that far yet," said Iowa State athletic director Bruce Van de Velde. "I don't know with the date we have if it will be picked up for TV."

Van de Velde said Iowa State coach Wayne Morgan's ties to Xavier helped get the deal finished. Morgan took over at Iowa State in May when Larry Eustachy resigned after intense scrutiny regarding his presence and alleged behavior at a coed college party in Columbia, Mo. Eustachy admitted to being a recovering alcoholic during that process. Morgan coached at Xavier as an assistant under Bob Staak from 1979-84.

"It certainly helped that Wayne coached there," Van de Velde said.

Xavier has one nonconference home game left to schedule for the upcoming season. The current schedule has the Musketeers playing Alabama, Cincinnati, Morehead State, Elon and the BCA Classic Nov. 15-17 at Cintas Center.

Road or neutral games are at Mississippi State, Ball State, Miami and Iowa State and against Indiana in the John Wooden Tradition in Indianapolis. An attempt to schedule Murray State at Cintas Center for the final nonconference game could not be completed.

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E-mail ddow@enquirer.com