Cincinnati vs Xavier 12/10/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Xavier Musketeers and the Cincinnati Bearcats meet in college basketball action from the Fifth Third Arena on Saturday afternoon.

The Xavier Musketeers will look to build on their 84-74 win over West Virginia last time out. Souley Boum leads the Musketeers in scoring with 16.6 PPG along with 3.9 RPG and 4 APG while Colby Jones has 15.5 PPG with 5.1 RPG and a team-high 5.8 APG to lead the Musketeers in the assist department this season. Jack Nunge has 15.2 PPG with a team-high 7.6 RPG to lead the Musketeers on the glass while Zach Freemantle has 13 PPG with 6.9 RPG and Adam Kunkel has 11.4 PPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Xavier up to this point in the season. As a team, Xavier is averaging 84 PPG on 51.6% shooting from the field, 43% from three and 73% from the foul line this season.

The Cincinnati Bearcats will try to build on a three-game win streak after a 97-71 win over Bryant in their last game. David DeJulius leads the Bearcats in scoring and assists with 16.1 PPG and 3.2 APG while Landers Nolley II has 15.3 PPG with 4.3 RPG as well this season. Viktor Lakhin has 11.4 PPG with a team-high 7.8 RPG to lead the Bearcats on the glass and to round out the group of double-digit scorers for Cincinnati so far this season while Jeremiah Davenport has 9.8 PPG and 3.8 RPG this season. As a team, Cincinnati is averaging 79.4 points per game on 46.5% shooting from the field, 35.1% from three point range and 63.7% from the foul line up to this point in the year.

Xavier is 6-1-1 ATS in their last 8 games against a team with a winning record and 6-1-1 ATS in their last 8 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600 while the over is 7-1 in their last 8 games following a win. Cincinnati is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games and 11-25-1 ATS in their last 37 games following an ATS win while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games against a team with a winning record.

I get the case to be made for either side here as this is a premier rivalry in college hoops and one of my personal favorites as year in and year out, regardless of the players, these two teams don’t like each other. That being said, Xavier’s been the much more trustworthy team here as I haven’t really been able to get a good feel for what Cincinnati’s bringing to the table for much of the season. Xavier’s shown a lot of firepower against teams like West Virginia and Florida, and I think Cincinnati’s in for a rough go here. Give me the Musketeers.