The Xavier Musketeers’ ticket to the Big Dance has been punched already, but there’s still one last regular season game to go before they can begin their preparations for this year’s tournament.
Unfortunately, Xavier will face the Creighton Bluejays for their season finale – the same team that dealt them their third loss of the season. Can the Musketeers exact revenge on their Big East rival, or will the Bluejays come away with another stunning upset? Let’s take a closer look at this upcoming conference rivalry below.
Looking for even more thrilling NCAA men’s basketball betting action? Then check out our complete previews for the Atlantic Sun and MAAC conference championship tournaments right after this.
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Creighton Bluejays vs. Xavier Musketeers Preview
Where: Cintas Center, Cincinnati
When: Saturday, March 5, 2:30 PM ET
Line: Creighton Bluejays at Xavier Musketeers – view all NCAA Basketball lines
Betting on the Creighton Bluejays (18-11, 9-7 Big East)
With the win, Creighton improved to 19-2 lifetime in final regular season home games. Center Geoffrey Groselle had a monster game with 22 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. The Bluejays also dominated out-rebounded the Red Storm, 47-21.
The team still has to travel to Providence on Thursday before Saturday’s trip to face Xavier in Cincy, but we all know that Creighton will be more eager to shock the Musketeers once again on Saturday. If you could recall, the team stunned Xavier, 70-56, on February 10. In that game, the Bluejays hung tough in the battle of the boards against one of the best rebounding teams there is (46-44 in favor of Xavier).
If the boys from Omaha struggle to box out the Musketeers’ big men, they better find some support from their backcourt players. One such wingman who could bust out on Saturday is junior guard Maurice Watson Jr., who scored a career-high 32 points to go with seven boards and five assists in that upset of Xavier.
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Betting on the Xavier Musketeers (25-4, 13-4 Big East)
After the monumental victory over Villanova last Wednesday, the Xavier Musketeers lost that extremely positive momentum with a deflating loss to the Seton Hall Pirates on Sunday, 91-80.
That defeat all but puts Xavier’s shot at the top seed of the NCAA tournament in grave danger. The Musketeers were uncharacteristically outrebounded by Seton Hall, 44-39, and that’s considering that they’re ranked 13th in the nation with a plus-8.2 margin on the boards.
In Wednesday’s game, senior James Farr and sophomore Trevon Bluiett scored 17 points apiece, and they were pretty much the only bright spots for Xavier that night as the team shot a dismal 39 percent from the field.
Did the Musketeers just suffer a major hangover after their win over the Wildcats last week? They were simply extraordinary against Nova as they dominated the boards (42-33) and assists (24-15) en route to having six players score in double-digits.
Xavier is considered as an elite contender for the national title, yet they have to prove in their final home game that Wednesday’s loss to Seton Hall was just a fluke by getting even with Creighton.
However, the team cannot afford to have another off-night from the floor like it did on Wednesday. In fact, the Musketeers had a much worse shooting performance (an ice-cold 30-percen clip from the field) in the loss to the Bluejays last month.
Writer’s Prediction
Xavier does not disappoint its hometown fans as they trample Creighton in the season finale, 91-77.
