Xavier vs Cleveland State 3/15/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Cleveland State Vikings and the Xavier Musketeers meet Tuesday in NIT college basketball action from Cintas Center. Cleveland State is 20-10 on the year. The Vikings lost to Wright State in their last game. As for Xavier, they’re 18-13 overall and coming off a loss to Butler. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Cleveland State only lost consecutive games twice this year and they had a nice 16-5 record back in early February. The Vikings have gone a sketchy 4-5 since then, however. They’ve fallen to Detroit, Oakland and Wright State in the last four games. 

In the Wright State matchup back on March 7, the Vikings were outscored 26-36 by halftime. Cleveland State hit a 41-46 run in the second and lost 82-67. D’Moi Hodge was the team’s top scorer with 16 points and two boards in 29 minutes.

Over on the Xavier side, they were 14-3 back in mid-January. The Musketeers have won just four games since then, however. Xavier is currently on a 1-6 run with losses to St. John’s, UConn, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s again and Butler. 

Matched up against Butler on March 9, the Musketeers kept the pace the whole way and needed overtime to decide the winner. Xavier came out of the extra period with an 89-82 loss, though. Jack Nunge led the team on his 24 points and nine rebounds. 

The Musketeers are 0-4 ATS in their last four Tuesday games and 1-4 ATS in their last five after an ATS loss. Xavier is 1-6 ATS in their last seven overall.
Meanwhile, the Vikings are 16-39 ATS in their last 55 Tuesday games and 5-1 ATS in their last six after an ATS loss. Cleveland State is 4-1 ATS in their last five after a straight-up loss.

PICK: I’m going to take a stab on Xavier. Probably staying away form this one, though. The Musketeers haven’t been very good lately, but to their credit they’ve been facing off against some tough conference teams. There are a few positives to take away from Xavier’s recent performances, and they’ve scored 82 points or more in three of the last five games. 

As for Cleveland State, they’ve been pretty sluggish on the scoreboard lately (67 or fewer in three of the last four). That said, the Vikings should be able to put up a solid total here. I like this one to be a higher-scoring affair, with Xavier powering toward a cover.