The No. 16 Xavier Musketeers (19-6, 11-3 Big East) will try to beat the conference leading No. 10 Marquette Golden Eagles (20-6, 12-3) at the Pfizer Forum Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET (CBS Sports). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the Xavier vs. Marqjuette odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
Rankings courtesy of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
In a matchup of 2 elite offenses, this is a rematch of an 80-76 Xavier victory on Jan. 15 as the Musketeers covered a 3-point spread and the Under 163.0 hit.
Xavier’s offense ranks 9th in the nation at 83.2 points while Marquette ranks 18th at 81.2 PPG. On the other end of the floor, the Xavier defense 330th allowing 75.7 points and Marquette ranks 211th at 70.7 PPG.
Defense will once again be optional in this showdown between 2 of the top teams in the Big East.
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Xavier at Marquette odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 11:20 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): Xavier +190 (bet $100 to win $190) | Marquette -270 (bet $270 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): Xavier +5.5 (-105) | Marquette -5.5 (-115)
- Over/Under (O/U): 160.5 (O: -115 | U: -105)
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Xavier at Marquette picks and predictions
Prediction
Marquette 87, Xavier 84
Moneyline
PASS.
Marquette is valued correctly at -270. This is a fairly even game between 2 top 20 teams and the Golden Eagles play well at home. If I liked Xavier to win, I would certainly take them on the ML. But with Marquette being favored, -270 is too high to wager on straight.
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Against the spread
XAVIER +5.5 (-105)
Xavier comes into this matchup after a 69-67 road loss to Butler on Friday while Marquette comes in off an 89-75 victory over Georgetown as 11-point favorites.
Neither team has a great defense, but both do have great offenses, and this will be a shootout. In such a game, I do not want to risk a 5.5 spread being covered. Even in the Musketeers get down, they have the fire power to come back and make it close. This will be a high-scoring close game and I will take the Underdog to cover. Xavier is 7-2 ATS in its last 9 against teams with a winning record. This hot streak should continue Wednesday.
Over/Under
Take OVER 160.5 (-115)
This game is a rematch of an 80-76 win by Xavier. The 156 would go Under this number and went Under the 163 number offered in that game. I still see this game getting Over the lowered total.
Xavier has gone Over the total in its last 5 games after a loss and has also gone Over the total in 4 of 5 against a team with a win percentage over .600.
Marquette has also gone Over the total in 5 of 6 games against teams with a win percentage above .600. When these teams play other good teams, they both score. This will happen again Wednesday and despite the 160.5 total being high, it is still worth an Over play.
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