The Xavier Musketeers take on the Marquette Golden Eagles. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Xavier Marquette prediction and pick. Find how to watch Xavier Marquette.
The Marquette Golden Eagles faced a stern challenge this season. They won the Big East Conference regular-season championship last year and grabbed a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Marquette was a preseason top-10 team in November, viewed as the second-best team in the Big East behind defending national champion Connecticut. Would the Golden Eagles be able to live up to that high standard? They did wobble at various points in the regular season. At some points along the way, they looked mortal. Yet, the times when Marquette struggled have been minimized and contained. Much as a good team will minimize an opponent's run within the flow of a live game, good teams also minimize losing streaks and don't allow an individual loss to bleed into a three-game losing skid. Through 26 games, Marquette is 20-6 and in second place in the Big East, behind UConn. The Golden Eagles are on pace to get a No. 2 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, matching last year's seed. That's not the perfect outcome, but it's a very good one. UConn looks like the national title favorite, but Marquette is solidly in the mix as a contender for the Final Four, and if the Golden Eagles can get that far, this will be considered a clear-cut success in Milwaukee.
Here are the Xavier-Marquette College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Basketball Odds: Xavier-Marquette Odds
Xavier Musketeers: +10.5 (-110)
Marquette Golden Eagles: -10.5 (-110)
Over: 156.5 (-115)
Under: 156.5 (-105)
How To Watch Xavier vs Marquette
Time: 5:00 pm ET / 2:00 pm PT
TV: Fox Sports 1
Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why Xavier Could Cover the Spread
The point spread is a double-digit point spread. Even though Marquette is clearly a better team than Xavier, the Big East is and has been a robustly competitive conference. Xavier hasn't done a lot of winning this season, but the Musketeers have played a lot of close games. Winning games and playing close games are two very different things. It's hard to win outright, but there are plenty of teams in major college basketball which come close to winning yet don't finish the job. They might not win on the money line, but they cover the spread. Xavier has nothing to lose in this game. Coach Sean Miller is trying to develop his program for the future and cultivate his current crop of players for next season. That freedom of having no real NCAA Tournament pressure in late February could liberate Xavier and enable the Musketeers to play their best ball, which would enable them to cover against Marquette.
Why Marquette Could Cover the Spread
The Golden Eagles have been a very good team. If they match last year's No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, that in itself would be a strong and positive commentary on their overall quality. They aren't a dominant team, but they find ways to win and have been very resilient throughout the season. Against a 13-loss Xavier team, Marquette's toughness and resilience will create a game in which the Golden Eagles might struggle in the first half but could blow the doors off Xavier in the second half and win by 15 to 18 points.
Final Xavier-Marquette Prediction & Pick
Home-court Marquette is hard to go against, especially given Xavier's mediocrity. Take Marquette.
Final Xavier-Marquette Prediction & Pick: Marquette -10.5
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