Weekly throughout the summer, the BIG EAST will check-in with each of its 11 men's basketball programs. Highlighted by a one-on-one interview with each head coach and NBC Sports' John Fanta, the BIG EAST Summer Check-In Series will cover a wide range of topics from roster changes, highlights from summer workouts, and scheduling updates.
This week, the final installment of the Summer Check-In series visits Xavier and head coach Richard Pitino. Entering year two with the Musketeers, Pitino discusses his vision for the program, how he rebuilt the roster, and the goals heading into the 2026-27 season.
“I think where it helps, when you have so many new players all the time...there's been a Xavier Way forever, 25 years of coaches who have all been under the same tree doing the same thing. I come in, and everybody internally has been very receptive to my way, but to have some players who have tasted success with me, I think it helps the locker room in a big way...they've been through the wars with me, they trust me. I think that helps buy-in with everybody else. But you can absolutely see, especially in the summer time, there were times where Braden Appelhans was one of our better players in practice and that was because he has played for me for three years. The familiarity piece really helps, especially early in the season when everybody's got a million different pieces to put together.”
Head Coach Richard Pitino on the "Xavier Way" and the benefit of having some former players join his 2026-27 roster
Xavier's 2026-27 Scheduling
Notable 2026-27 Non-Conference Matchups:
- Nov. 13 vs. Mississippi State (Greenbrier)
- Nov. 20 vs. Iowa
- Nov. 25 vs. Texas A&M (Atlantis)
- Nov. 27 vs. Virginia (Atlantis)
- Dec. 5 at Cincinnati
"Scheduling, like everything else, has become challenging. You don't know what rosters are - it's happening later and later...we tinkered with 'do we play five high-majors, do we play six?' and we landed on five. Travel for the fans is always important. Can you play one or two really good home games and I think Iowa scratches that itch for our fans. At the end of the day, you're trying to position yourself for an NCAA Tournament bid. I think the BIG EAST is going to be better so you're going to get more bids, you're going to get more opportunities in conference. I think it's plenty challenging enough and we'll know where we stand certainly."
Pitino on how he put together the 2026-27 non-conference slate for the Musketeers
Xavier's 2026-27 Roster
"If there is a benefit of not being very good, you get a jump on it earlier. We kind of knew - our season ended on Thursday after we lost to UConn at the BIG EAST tournament - now it's player meetings, who's coming back and who's moving on? We had signed three high school kids...we retained Jovan, who we really liked, Gabriel Pozzato who didn't play but really liked him coming off this injury, Kason Westphal another one, along with two phenomenal walk-ons...we just went to work and identified guys who fit what we were trying to do."
Pitino on retention and recruiting for the 2026-27 roster
Newcomers
#1 Mike Nwoko - Sr. - F - 6-10 - 260 - Toronto, Ontario
- Four-star rated transfer (EvanMiya) from LSU; averaged 13.4 points and 5.9 boards in 22 minutes per game in 2025-26 and had five 20-point performances
- Also played at Mississippi State and Miami; represented Canada at the 2022 FIBA U18 American Championship
"I like advanced analytics, but I don't know if I'm all in on it. There's an eye test to it. The production for a guy who didn't play a lot of minutes - some of it was conditioning, some of it was foul trouble - but it was a double-double in the SEC, which is one of the best conferences in college basketball. Loved the character piece - he's very close with Jovan and I look at him like family. If he's friends with Jovan, then he's good by me. We need him to make an impact, we really do. The summer is an appetizer, you're not really going full, full go but he's had some moments where I felt like he could be one of the better bigs in the BIG EAST. "
Pitino on the what drew him to Mike Nwoko and how high his ceiling can be
#2 Kalek House - Fr. - G - 6-3 - 200 - Scottsdale, Ariz.
- Four-star rated recruit who ranked No. 66 overall on ESPN's Top 100 list
- Averaged 14.0 points per game at AZ Compass Prep in his senior season
#3 Tru Washington - Sr. - G - 6-4 - 210 - South Phoenix, Ariz.
- Four-star rated transfer (EvanMiya) from Miami; averaged nearly 12.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in his lone season with the Hurricanes, logging a team-best 56 steals
- Began his career at New Mexico playing two seasons under Richard Pitino; 2024-25 All-Mountain West Honorable Mention
"In this transient state of college basketball, it's cool to see a little bit of loyalty. Now the money's got to be right, we all know that, but Braden Appelhans who played for me at New Mexico, he wanted to come back. Tru, he wanted to come back, Jovan wanted to come back. I feel like I've got the band back together which is cool, because we had a lot of success there. Tru is a gamer, he's going to get you double figure scoring, he's going to be one of the better defenders on the court. Really, really wants to win. Elite defender and an underrated offensive player. We tried to get him last year and at the 11th hour it fell apart. He's a typical BIG EAST guard."
Pitino on reuniting with Tru Washington and his makeup as a tough defender will pay dividends
#6 Harrison Aligbe - Fr. - F - 6-8 - 220 - Brooklyn Park, Minn.
- Averaged 17.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in his final prep season at St. Andrews
- Class AA All-NEPSAC First Team selection; older brother Rolyns also plays with Xavier
#7 Asher Elson - Fr. - F - 6-11 - 200 - Brooklyn, N.Y.
- Three-star rated recruit (247Sports) who was ranked No. 115 on the Rivals' Top 150
- Played two seasons with Overtime Elite, averaging 11.7 points, 5.3 boards, and 1.7 blocks this past season; began prep career at South Shore H.S. in Brooklyn where he was an All-PSAL First Team selection
#8 Rolyns Aligbe - Jr. - F - 6-9 - 243 - Brooklyn Park, Minn.
- Three-star transfer (EvanMiya) from Southern Illinois; named to 2025-26 MVC Most Improved Team
- Averaged 9.5 points and 7.4 rebounds - second-best in the MVC - in 32 starts last year; played two seasons at SIU
#9 Ruben Dominguez - Sr. - G - 6-6 - 214 - Puerto Real, Spain
- Five-star rated transfer from Texas A&M ranked No. 25 overall by EvanMiya; leading the Aggies with 86 3-pointers made in 2025-26
- Averaged 10.2 points and 2.3 rebounds while making at least one trey in 31 of 34 games last season
"We've got a kid like Ruben Dominguez who could be one of the best 3-point shooters in the country - I think he could be the best 3-point shooter I've ever coached."
Pitino with high praise on Ruben Dominguez's elite ability to shoot the basketball
#11 Chance Westry - Sr. - G - 6-6 - 205 - Harrisburg, Pa.
- Four-star rated transfer from UAB ranked No. 75 overall by EvanMiya; 2025-26 Second Team All-AAC selection who set a new conference record with 15 assists vs. Charlotte
- Led the Blazers in scoring (15.5) and assists (5.5) last year; also played at Syracuse and Auburn
"Elite passer, as good as you're going to find in some middle ball screen action. He is 6-6 - we have a very big, positionally, lineup. Chance is an older player, finally was healthy last year, and was extremely productive. Another guy very efficient in what he does. Working on him getting more comfortable shooting the 3, but he can finish at the rim, he can find anybody, and he's got really good length."
Pitino on Chance Westry's role in the lineup as another talented, big guard in the Musketeer backcourt
#12 Braden Appelhans - Sr. - G - 6-6 - 200 - Blue Springs, Mo.
- Three-star rated transfer (247Sports) from Drake; averaged 5.3 points in 14 minutes per game
- Connected on 40.0% from the perimeter with the Bulldogs a season ago; spent three seasons with Richard Pitino at New Mexico from 2022-25
#16 Nikos Chitikoudis - Sr. F - 6-9 - 235 - Thessaloniki, Greece
- Three-star rated transfer (EvanMiya) from Robert Morris; named to 2025-26 Horizon League All-Defensive team
- Averaged 11.3 points and 7.7 boards while making nearly 55% of his FG attempts; began his career at North Carolina A&T
#17 Gedeon Basson - Fr. - G - 6-1 - 218 - Douala, Cameroon
- Athletic, versatile newcomer who played high school basketball in the United States at Victory Rock Prep in Florida
- Last summer, averaged 18.0 points, 5.3 boards, and 2.7 assists for Cameroon in the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup
Returnees
#0 Gabriel Pozzato - So. - F - 6-7 - 200 - Novara, Italy
- Missed the 2025-26 season due to injury; began his collegiate career at Evansville
- Named to the 2024-25 Missouri Valley All-Freshman team after averaging 14.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game; represented Italy at the 2024 FIBA U18 European Championship
"Extremely talented - he started practicing scout team stuff towards the end of February last year. He was really looking good, but everyone else is exhausted and done with practice and he's fresh and flying around. I remember we were at Providence, shooting around, and we had him be (Stefan) Vaaks who could really shoot it and it was like "my goodness." He had a little setback so he missed part of the summer but started back up last two weeks and was good. You can tell he's rusty but athletic, talented, can play the 2 or the 3 for us, can score in a variety of ways. Just needs to be healthy.
Pitino on what he sees Gabriel Pozzato bringing to the lineup after missing the 2025-26 season due to injury
#15 Kason Westphal - So. - C - 7-0 - 260 - Salida, Colo
- Did not appear in any games during the 2025-26 season at Xavier
- Played his final prep season with Fear of God Athletics - an affiliate of Overtime Elite
#20 Henry Thole - Jr. - F - 6-7 - 230 - Union, Ky.
- Spent the previous two seasons as a walk-on for the Musketeers
#24 Jovan Milicevic - Jr. - F - 6-10 - 241 - Toronto, Ontario
- Averaged 12.4 points per game a season ago for Xavier, reaching double-digits in the scoring column in 22 games
- Made 2.0 3-pointers per game - 7th-best in the BIG EAST; Began his career at New Mexico during the 2024-25 season with Richard Pitino
"It was like a sweet spot, kind of like Tru a little bit - when NIL and transfer portal was shifting a little bit - people were not recruiting the high school guys as much. You didn't have 15 roster spots. We just really liked those guys. They were both out of Arizona, Jovan had played at Peach Jam and we really liked his skill level, his size. We went out and saw him in Phoenix. I loved him as a kid, he's got size and skill. I remember when I took the Xavier job, I told him "I'm not recruiting you, you're coming - I'm making you come with us." Even when we, after the season, had to re-do his deal or whatever this insanity is that we're talking about, he was like "I want to finish with you." So hopefully that is the case, because I believed in him from day one and I still believe in him in a big way."
Pitino on how he first recruited Jovan Milicevic to New Mexico and then to Xavier
#30 Michael Wolf - Gr. - G - 6-1 - 195 - Greenwood Village, Colo.
- Four-year walk-on with the Xavier men's basketball program; earned a scholarship during the second semester of the 2025-26 academic year
Departures
- Malik Messina-Moore - transfer; All Wright - transfer; Pape N'Diaye - transfer; Roddie Anderson III - transfer; Anthony Robinson - transfer; Mier Panoam - transfer; Filip Borovicanin - pending; Isaiah Walker - eligibility expired; Luke Naser - transfer; Tre Carroll - eligibility expired; Ian Sabourin - eligibility expired
By The Numbers
10 - Two incoming transfers - Ruben Dominguez and Braden Appelhans - each registered 10 3-pointers in a game during the 2025-26 season. Dominguez connected on 10 treys (10-14) for Texas A&M in a game against Manhattan on Nov. 21, 2025. Appelhans also made 10-of-14 attempts from beyond the arc in a Dec. 2 game for Drake against Western Illinois
11th -
Xavier is tied for 11th nationally for the most Sweet 16 appearances since 2008. XU has advanced to the second weekend on seven occasions during that span, including 2023. The Musketeers are also tied for 11th for most NCAA appearances since 2001.
2.90:1 - Last season, Xavier ranked 13th nationally in assist/turnover ratio at 1.74:1. Incoming transfer guard Chance Westry (177:61) posted a 2.90:1 mark at UAB in 2025-26.