The Xavier Musketeers and the Marquette Golden Eagles meet Sunday in college basketball action from Fiserv Forum. Xavier is sitting at 14-3 this year and coming off a win over DePaul. As for Marquette, they’re currently 13-6 so far. The Eagles beat Villanova in their last game. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Xavier lost just three of their first 15 games, cruising to a 12-3 record. The Musketeers’ only losses in that time were to Iowa State and Villanova (twice). Since then it’s been consecutive wins over Creighton and DePaul.
Xavier was down 36-34 at halftime in the DePaul game. The Musketeers were able to storm back after the break for a thrilling 68-67 victory, however. Jack Nunge led the team with 23 points, and Colby Jones added 13 points and six boards.
Over on the Marquette side, they posted a solid 8-2 run out of the gate this year. The Eagles would then hit a four-game losing streak in late December, but have since beaten Providence, Georgetown, DePaul, Seton Hall and Villanova in succession.
Matched up against Villanova on Wednesday, the Eagles posted a 30-29 edge in the first half and a 27-25 run from there for a tight 57-54 win. Justin Lewis led the team on 21 points and seven rebounds, while Greg Elliott added 14 points off the bench.
The Eagles are 2-6 ATS in their last eight Sunday games and 5-0 ATS in their last five overall. The under is 4-1-1 in Marquette’s last six Sunday games.
Meanwhile, the Musketeers are 5-1 ATS in their last six Sunday games and 3-7 ATS in their last 10 road games. Xavier is 1-5 ATS in their last six overall.
PICK: I’m going to take a stab on Marquette here. The Eagles had a rough run back in December, but over the last five games they’ve beaten three ranked teams and really turned things around. The last time these teams met up back on December 18, Xavier owned the second half and came away with an 80-71 victory at Cintas Center. With the run that Marquette has been on lately, I think they’ll be right in it until the end in this rematch. Should be a very fun game to watch and a competitive matchup all around.