The DePaul Blue Demons (10-22) battle the No. 15 Xavier Musketeers (23-8) Thursday in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals. Tip from Madison Square Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET (FS1). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the DePaul vs. Xavier odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
DePaul beat Seton Hall 66-65 Wednesday in the opening round of the tournament, covering as a 5-point underdog. The victory snapped a 12-game losing skid. The Blue Demons are just 3-7 against the spread (ATS) in their last 10 games and are 13-18-1 ATS this season including Wednesday’s victory.
Xavier beat Butler 78-66 at home on Saturday but failed to cover as a 13.5-point favorite in its final regular season game. It has now won 3 straight games and 6 of its last 10. The Musketeers are 5-5 ATS along that 10-game span and 17-13-1 ATS on the season.
Xavier and DePaul split the season series this season with DePaul winning 73-72 as a 9-point home underdog on Jan. 18 and Xavier winning 82-68 as a 13-point home favorite on Feb. 18.
Rankings courtesy of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
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DePaul vs. Xavier odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 10:53 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): DePaul +550 (bet $100 to win $550) | Xavier -800 (bet $800 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): DePaul +12.5 (-115) | Xavier -12.5 (-105)
- Over/Under (O/U): 153.5 (O: -105 | U: -115)
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DePaul vs. Xavier picks and predictions
Prediction
Xavier 85, DePaul 73
Moneyline
PASS.
Xavier (-800) should win but it is never advised to risk 8 times your potential return on a moneyline wager.
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Against the spread
PASS.
Xavier is clearly the better team in this matchup but this is too big of a spread to back confidently despite that its offense ranks 10th in the nation with 82.1 points per game.
Both Xavier and DePaul are 2-1 ATS at neutral sites this season. DePaul is 2-4 ATS as an underdog of 10 or more points this season, while Xavier is 3-2 ATS as a favorite of 10 or more points.
However, this is a well-made line and I have no confidence on either side.
Over/Under
BET OVER 153.5 (-105).
The Over is 3-0 in the Musketeers’ last 3 games, 5-1 in their last 6 following an ATS loss and 10-2 in their last 12 neutral site games. The Over is also 4-1 in the Muskies’ last 5 games against a team with a winning percentage below .400 and they wrapped up the regular season 20-10-1 O/U.
In the Blue Demon’s last 3 games with a closing line of 153.5 or higher, the Over is 2-1 ATS.
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