The Montana Grizzlies and the Xavier Musketeers meet in college basketball action from the Cintas Center on Friday night.
The Montana Grizzlies will look to rebound from a 91-63 loss to Duquesne in their last game. Josh Bannan led the Grizzlies with 19 points on 5 of 13 shooting with 5 rebounds and a team-high 4 assists while Dischon Thomas added 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting with a team-high 7 rebounds as well in the loss.
The Xavier Musketeers will try to build on their 96-73 beatdown win over Morgan State last time out. Souley Boum led the way with 23 points on 6 of 9 shooting with 4 threes and a team-high 5 steals while Jack Nunge had 16 points on 5 of 9 shooting with 8 rebounds while Colby Jones had 15 points along with 6 rebounds, a team-high 9 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. Zach Freemantle added 14 points along with 7 rebounds while Jerome Hunter added 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting with a team-high 9 rebounds to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Xavier in the winning effort. Nunge and Jones each had 3 blocks as well in the win.
Montana is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 0-5 ATS in their last 5 road games while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 games following an ATS loss. Xavier is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 Friday games and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games against a team with a winning percentage below .400 while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games overall.
I get the case to be made for an underdog like Montana as these teams are always sneaky cover and potentially upset potential. However, this might be the best Xavier team in some time, as they’ve got top-tier talent across the board and are fully capable of beating up on any team on any given night. Montana just had no answers for Duquesne in their opener and I think the Jayhawks get a big win and cover here.