The Xavier Musketeers take on the Saint Mary's Gaels in Las Vegas. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Xavier Saint Mary's prediction and pick. Find how to watch Xavier Saint Mary's.

The Xavier Musketeers and Saint Mary's Gaels hoped to meet each other on Sunday, but they hoped it would be later that night in Las Vegas instead of in the late afternoon and early evening. The Muskies and Gaels are meeting in the third-place game of this weekend's early-season Las Vegas tournament instead of in the late-night championship game. These teams lost their semifinals on Friday, with Xavier falling to Washington and Saint Mary's getting crushed by San Diego State. It's true that San Diego State is a better team than Washington, so to that extent Saint Mary's didn't eat a terrible loss on Friday. However, the Gaels didn't just lose; they got blown out. That is alarming and a real sign of limitations for a team which was picked by a lot of experts to finish ahead of Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference standings this season.

Saint Mary's does not look ready or able to compete with the Zags if this past week is any indication.

The season is young, but SMC was supposed to be a lot better than what we have seen. The player who was supposed to reach the next level in his evolution this season was point guard Aidan Mahaney, who came along beautifully last season under head coach Randy Bennett. So far this season, Mahaney has not been able to take over games against good opponents, with Friday's San Diego State game being a perfect example. Mahaney is getting relegated to a secondary role in SMC's early-season games versus good opponents. He has to be able to take over games for the Gaels to become a top-level team.

Xavier had a horrific second half against Washington on Friday. The Musketeers committed stacks of fouls and turnovers, putting Washington in the bonus early in the half and enabling the Huskies to get lots of cheap points. Xavier was also 18 of 31 from the free throw line in that game, a crusher in a contest which was decided by only three points, 74-71.

Here are the Xavier-Saint Mary's College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Basketball Odds: Xavier-Saint Mary's Odds

Xavier Musketeers: +5.5 (-105)

Saint Mary's Gaels: -5.5 (-115)

Over: 135.5 (-110)

Under: 135.5 (-110)

How To Watch Xavier vs Saint Mary's

Time: 7:30 pm ET / 4:30 pm PT

TV: ESPN Plus

Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why Xavier Could Cover the Spread

The Musketeers had a seven-point lead over Washington at halftime on Friday. They showed they could play well. They simply imploded in the second half. We're not likely to see Xavier play that poorly on many other occasions over the course of the full season. Xavier is much more like the team we saw in the first half of that Washington game. Assuming we see first-half Xavier instead of second-half Xavier in this game, the Musketeers should be able to stay very close against a Saint Mary's team which, as noted above, is not playing well and is not getting the production it needs from point guard Aidan Mahaney.

Why Saint Mary's Could Cover the Spread

Aidan Mahaney has been struggling, but he is too good to continue to be this mediocre. He has so much natural talent and feel for the game that he is going to figure things out sooner rather than later. If he does, Saint Mary's becomes a significantly better team and, more specific to this game, far better than Xavier.

Final Xavier-Saint Mary's Prediction & Pick

Mahaney will play a lot better and Saint Mary's will win this game by double digits.

Final Xavier-Saint Mary's Prediction & Pick: Saint Mary's -5.5