Xavier vs Butler Prediction 2/18/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The Butler Bulldogs and the Xavier Musketeers meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Cintas Center. Here’s a Xavier vs Butler prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Xavier vs Butler pick.

Butler Bulldogs Betting Preview

Butler had an ugly losing streak that lasted most of December and into January, but outside of that, they’re doing pretty well overall this year. The Bulldogs went 7-1 in their first eight games with a lone loss to Austin Peay among wins over Missouri State, Western Michigan, SMU, Merrimack, Northwestern, Mississippi State, and Eastern Illinois in that time. Losses to Houston, North Dakota State, Wisconsin, Marquette, UConn, Villanova, St. John’s, Providence, and Creighton followed, then wins over Seton Hall and DePaul around another loss to UConn. Following two more losses to Marquette and Georgetown, the Bulldogs have since beaten Seton Hall, Providence, and Georgetown over their last trio. That gives Butler a sub-500 record of 12-13 through their first 25 games of the season so far.

In the Georgetown game on Saturday, the Bulldogs opened up on a 46-35 advantage in the first half. Butler kept the pace from there on a 51-51 run and took the victory in the end 97-86. Pierre Brooks led the team with 30 points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals. Finley Bizjack added 15 points with five rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block. Tops off the bench was Landon Moore with his 13 points and six rebounds in 18 minutes of work.

Xavier Musketeers Betting Preview

Over on the Xavier side, they’ve had some mixed results in the record column but haven’t done too badly outside of a rough stretch in December. The Musketeers took out Texas Southern, IUPUI, Jackson State, Wake Forest, Siena, and South Carolina in their first six games, then hit a 3-7 run over the next 10 outings. The wins in that time were over South Carolina State, Morgan State, and Seton Hall. Otherwise, it was losses to Michigan, TCU, Cincinnati, UConn, Marquette, Georgetown and St. John’s. Since then Xavier has gone 7-3 over a 10-game span with losses to St. John’s, Creighton, and Villanova. The wins otherwise came versus DePaul, Villanova, Marquette, UConn, Georgetown, Providence, and DePaul in succession, giving the Musketeers a 16-10 overall run through their first 26 games this year.

In the home rematch versus DePaul on Saturday, the Musketeers came out of the locker room with a 45-31 advantage. Xavier kept it up in the second half with a 40-37 run and took the eventual victory 85-68 in the end. All five starters finished the game in double-figures, led by Zach Freemantle and his 19 points, nine rebounds, and one assist in 29 minutes. Dailyn Swain added 17 points with seven boards and eight assists, while both Ryan Conwell and Dayton McKnight had 14 points each. Marcus Foster chipped in 11 points as well.

Why the Xavier Musketeers will win

• Xavier has won 12 of its last 13 games at Cintas Center against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Butler has lost seven of its last eight road night games against the Big East Conference.
• Butler has lost the first half in each of its last four games at Cintas Center.

Why the Butler Bulldogs will win

• Butler has won five of its last six games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Xavier has lost five of its last six games following a home win.
• Butler has won the first half in each of its last six games against the Big East Conference.

Xavier vs Butler Prediction

I’ll lean toward Xavier here. The Musketeers dispatched DePaul without too much difficulty in their last outing, eventually shooting a very nice 58.8 percent from the field and 87.5 percent (21-of-24) from the line. Xavier had just nine turnovers while scoring 15 points off 13 DePaul turnovers on the other side. That makes a 3-1 run in the last four games for the Musketeers, and they’ve scored a combined 176 points in their last two outings.

As for Butler, they did well against a pretty decent Georgetown team in their last outing, shooting 57.7 percent from the field. The 14 turnovers for 19 Hoyas points got the Bulldogs into some trouble though, so they’ll have to watch the mistakes on Tuesday. Butler has scored 82 or more points in three straight games now, so this one could reach a fairly high total if both teams keep the shooting up.