Butler Bulldogs vs Xavier Musketeers Prediction, Pick and Preview, March 9 (3/9): NCAAB

Butler Bulldogs vs Xavier Musketeers Prediction, Pick and Preview, March 9 (3/9): NCAAB

Credit: photo by David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

 
Odds
Time 4:30 p.m. EST
Butler money line +185
Butler spread +5.5
Xavier money line -225
Xavier spread -5.5
Over / under 131

 

2021-2022 season stats
  Butler Bulldogs Xavier Musketeers
Record 13-18 18-12
Road / home record 3-8 13-5
Streak L5 W1
Points per game 63.13 73.67
Points allowed per game 66.52 68.57
Rebounds per game 31.32 36.16
Rebounds allowed per game 32.19 33.32
Over / under record 15-15 14-15-1

 

Preview

A Big East battle will take place at the Madison Square Garden when the Butler Bulldogs and the Xavier Musketeers meet for the first game of the tournament. Xavier beat twice the Bulldogs in the season.

BUTLER BULLDOGS

The Bulldogs had an up and down season but mostly bad. They have lost 5 straight games and 8 of their last 10. Butler are the 9th seed in the conference with a 6-14 record against conference opponents.

C. Harris leads the team with 10.7 points per game, B. Golden is grabbing 3.5 rebounds per gameand A. Thompson has 3.9 assists per game for the Bulldogs.

The team average 63.13 points per game (339th), shooting 41.7% from the field and 31% on three-pointers. Defensively, Butler ranks 98th and allows 66.5 points per game and 32.69 rebounds.

Butler is 1-3 playing in neutral sites.

XAVIER MUSKETEERS

Xavier are the 8th seed in the conference and already beat two times the Bulldogs this season. The Musketeers have a 18-12 overall record and 8-11 against conference opponents. They lost 3 of their last 10 games in the season but beat Georgetown at the end.

Their best players are J. Nunge with 13.1 ppg and 52% fg, C. Jones in rebounds with 7.6 rpg and P. Scruggs in assists with 4 per game.

The Musketeers average 73.6 points per game (115th) while allowing 68.5 points per game (167th) and 33.32 rebounds.

Xavier are 1-1 this season playing in neutral sites.

BETTING TRENDS

Butler are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games.

Butler are 6-12 ATS in their last 18 games against Xavier.

Xavier are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games.

The total has gone OVER in 4 of Xavier's last 6 games against Butler.

Prediction

Both teams struggled at the end of the season but Xavier are clearly the better team here. Butler are 0-5 SU in their last 5 games against an opponent in the Big East conference and have lost 4 of their last 5 games vs Xavier. The Musketeers beat the Bulldogs twice but covered the spread only once but I think they will be superior enough to cover 5.5 points.

PICK: Xavier -5.5 (-110)

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