NCAA Basketball
(2/14/23) 7:00 PM Eastern.
Spread: Xavier +5.5 / Marquette -5.5.
ML: Xavier +210 / Marquette -250
Total: Over / Under 160
The Pick: Marquette -5.5.
The Musketeers are struggling without Senior Zach Freemantle. He’s the teams leading rebounder and leads the team in usage rate. They’re just 2-2 in their 4 games without him. They lost 67-84 at Creighton in their first game, picked up home wins over Providence and St. Johns but then suffered an ugly road loss 67-69 to Butler. Even with Freemantle this Xavier squad also lost at lowly Depaul a month ago. Then there’s the injury to Xavier’s leading scorer; Souley Boum. He hurt his ankle against Butler, played through it but shot just 4-14 from the field. He is expected to play but he hasn’t been able to practice leading up to this game.
The Golden Eagles are 13-1 at home this year with every win coming by 6 points or more. Their lone loss came against Wisconsin way back on December 3rd. ATS they’re 6-1 L7 home games and 10-3 L13 overall. They’ve won and covered in 4 straight games at home vs Xavier too. This games for the #1 seed in the conference with a healthy Xavier taking the first meeting on January 15th. The Golden Eagles and Co. will be fired up for their first home game in a couple weeks. Too much talent missing from Xavier for a team that already struggles on the road. Lay the wood!
