
Marquette vs Xavier Prediction 1/18/25 College Basketball Picks Today
Xavier (11-7) vs. Marquette (15-2)
January 18, 2025 2:00 pm EDT
The Line: Marquette -9.5; Over/Under: 147.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Xavier Musketeers and the Marquette Golden Eagles meet Saturday in college basketball action from Fiserv Forum. Here’s a Marquette vs Xavier prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Marquette vs Xavier pick.
Xavier Musketeers Betting Preview
The Musketeers opened up the season on a great run, but since late November they’ve been highly unsteady in the record column. Xavier hit a 6-0 start out of the gate with wins over Texas Southern, IUPUI, Jackson State, Wake Forest, Siena and South Carolina. A 2-2 stretch came after that with losses to Michigan and TCU amid wins over South Carolina State and Morgan State. Since then it’s been a 3-5 stretch with wins over Seton Hall DePaul and Villanova for the Musketeers. The losses otherwise have come courtesy of Cincinnati, UConn, Marquette, Georgetown and St. John’s, resulting in an 11-7 overall record so far this year.
In the Villanova matchup on Tuesday, the Musketeers came out of halftime looking up at a 32-24 deficit on the scoreboard. To their credit, Xavier fought back on a 45-31 run in the second half, eventually powering out the comeback win 69-63. Leading contributor Ryan Conwell posted a nice 34 points with four assist, three rebounds and two steals. Both Dayvion McKnight and Zach Freemantle added 10 points apiece, combining for 12 rebounds as well. Jerome Hunter provided all of the team’s bench points (three) with two assists and two steals.
Marquette Golden Eagles Betting Preview
Over on the Marquette side, they’ve been one of the more consistent teams in the nation so far this year. The Eagles have just one instance of choppy play, and quickly righted the ship afterward. Marquette beat Stony Brook, George Mason, Central Michigan, Maryland, Purdue, Georgia, Stonehill and Western Carolina in their first eight games. A 1-2 run commenced after that, featuring a win over Wisconsin in between losses to Iowa State and Dayton. Since then Marquette has taken a six-game win streak. The victories in that time came versus Butler, Xavier, Providence, Creighton, Georgetown and DePaul in succession, giving the Golden Eagles and nice 15-2 record through their first 17 games of the season so far.
Matched up against the Blue Demons in the Tuesday game, the Eagles played a close one. Marquette was down 40-39 by the break, then pushed back through overtime for a tense 85-83 victory in the end. David Joplin posted a team-high 30 points with four rebounds and two steals with two blocks. Kam Jones doubled up on 18 points with 11 assists and three steals, while Chase Ross added 15 points with five rebounds, three steals and two assists. Ben Gold chipped in with 14 point, two rebounds, one steal and one block as well.
Why the Marquette Golden Eagles will win
- Xavier has lost each of its last 14 games against AP-ranked opponents.
- Marquette has won each of its last 13 games at Fiserv Forum against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- Xavier has lost the first half in each of its last 13 games against Top 10 AP-ranked opponents.
Why the Xavier Musketeers will win
- Xavier has won the first half in five of its last six day games.
Marquette vs Xavier Prediction
I’ll take a stab on Xavier here. The Musketeers could use a better effort here after a sketchy first half in the Villanova game, though. Xavier ended up shooting just 40.8 percent from the field with a 34-28 rebounding deficit in that one, but capitalized on 14 Wildcats turnovers for 18 points on the way to the victory. It’s been a tough run of difficult matchups for Xavier lately (and they’re in for another one on Saturday) but overall they’re still scoring well and I think they can be competitive against Marquette.
Speaking of Marquette, they coughed up 51.6 percent shooting to DePaul in their latest win and had an ugly 46-31 deficit on the glass (11-8 offensive). The Eagles shot 42.6 percent from the field themselves, and also capitalized on mistakes with 18 points off 16 Blue Demons turnovers. Marquette has posted 72 or more points in each installment of this current six-game winning streak, but they’ve also allowed 70 or more points in four of those six games. If Xavier can get it going on the scoreboard and maintain form for the whole game, I think the Musketeers can keep the pace.