The Seton Hall Pirates and the Xavier Musketeers meet Saturday in college basketball action from Cintas Center. Seton Hall is riding a three-game win streak at 8-4 overall this year and coming off a big win over UConn. As for Xavier, they’re sitting at .500 through 12 games and fell to St. John’s on Wednesday. Let’s get into our Seton Hall vs. Xavier prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Seton Hall Pirates 

The Pirates started out the year with a nice four-game win streak over Saint Peter’s, Fairleigh Dickinson, Albany and Wagner, but then took four losses in the next five games to USC, Iowa, Baylor and Rutgers. Seton Hall was able to bounce back with wins over Monmouth, Missouri and UConn in the next trio, though. 

In the victory versus UConn on Wednesday, Seton Hall was up by five points going into the second half. The Pirates didn’t look back from there and powered out a 75-60 upset victory in the end. Kadary Richmond led the team on his 23 points, six rebounds, five assists and a whopping eight steals. 

Xavier Musketeers 

Over on the Xavier side, their year started out on a decent 4-2 run with wins over Robert Morris, Jacksonville, Saint Mary’s and Bryant. After losses to Oakland, Houston and Delaware in the next trio, the Musketeers recovered with wins over Cincinnati and Winthrop before another loss to St. John’s. 

Matched up against St. John’s in the Wednesday game, the Musketeers took a 44-36 deficit into the locker room. Xavier was outscored 37-30 from there and ended up losing 81-66. Desmond Claude led the team in the losing effort with a double-double on 21 points and 12 rebounds. 

ANDREW’S FREE SETON HALL VS XAVIER PREDICTION 

I’ll just stick with Seton Hall—so long as they don’t suffer the proverbial “big-win hangover” here, that is. The Pirates are coming off a great performance versus UConn, hitting 51.8 percent from the field with 32 rebounds and 12 team assists. Seton Hall has scored 70 or more points in each of the last three games, which were all victories. 

As for Xavier, they’re coming off a tough loss to a good St. John’s team but overall they’ve played pretty well lately. The Musketeers have scored 75 or more points in three of the last four games but may have trouble reaching that threshold in this one if the Pirates keep up the great defensive effort.