Xavier Musketeers vs Creighton Bluejays Prediction, 12/23/2020 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Xavier Musketeers vs Creighton Bluejays

Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Location: CHI Health Center Omaha in Omaha, NE

TV: FS1

Odds/Point Spread: Xavier (+6)

CHI Health Center Omaha is the venue where and the Creighton Bluejays (6-2) will take on the Xavier Musketeers (8-0) on Wednesday. Creighton opens this game as 6-point favorites. The total is set at 153.5.

Xavier enters this game with a mark of 8-0 on the campaign. They have an average of 84.1 pts per game (39th in college basketball) while going 51.2% from the floor. The Musketeers are connecting on 41.5% on 3-pointers (76 of 183) and 72.5% from the free throw line. As a unit, Xavier is collecting 38.6 rebounds per game and has racked up 166 dimes on the season, which has them ranked 6th in the country in terms of passing the rock. They lose possession by turning the ball over 11.9 times per game and as a group they commit 14.8 personal fouls per game. On the defensive end, the Musketeers are forcing their opponents into 12.0 turnovers per game while drawing 16.4 fouls. They currently rank 282nd in D-1 in giving up assists to the opposition with 108 relinquished on the campaign. The Musketeers defensively are allowing an opponent shooting percentage of 38.5% (201 of 522) and they relinquish 34.8 rebounds per game as a group. They concede 31.8% on 3-pointers and they are ranked 156th in college basketball in PPG allowed (68.8).

The Xavier Musketeers faced the Marquette Golden Eagles and earned the victory with a final of 91-88 in their last contest. Xavier walked away from the contest with a 53.6% field goal percentage (30 of 56) and knocked down 13 out of their 24 three-point attempts. From the charity stripe, the Musketeers made 18 of their 26 attempts for a percentage of 69.2%. Regarding grabbing rebounds, they earned a total of 28 with 10 of them being of the offensive variety. They also recorded 21 dimes for this game as well as earning 10 steals and 3 blocks. In terms of defense, Xavier let their opponent shoot 53.6% from the floor on 30 of 56. Marquette distributed 17 dimes and 2 steals for the contest. On top of that, the Golden Eagles collected 24 boards (6 offensive, 18 defensive) and added 3 rejections. Marquette finished shooting 94.1% from the charity stripe by knocking down 16 of their 17 attempts. They also knocked down 8 of their 18 tries from beyond the perimeter.

Paul Scruggs is one guy who saw a lot of action for the contest. He recorded 29 points on 11 of 19 shooting. He played for 34 mins and snagged 4 boards. Scruggs walked away from this one shooting 57.9% from the field and also distributed 6 assists. An additional guy that had an impact in the game for the Musketeers was Nate Johnson. He had 5 boards and had 2 dimes. He finished shooting 50.0% from the floor in this contest by shooting 4-of-8 (14 points). In all, Johnson was on the hardwood for 33 minutes.

Creighton has a mark of 6-2 on the season. Creighton has earned 680 pts this year (85.0 per contest) and they pull in 37.3 boards per game. The Bluejays are committing 15.8 fouls per game and they connect on 66.4% from the free throw line. As an offense, the Bluejays are connecting on 50.4% from the field, which has them ranked 53rd in the nation. They are dishing out assists 18.8 times per game (24th in D-1) and they lose possession via turnover 10.9 times per contest. The Bluejays on defense are ranked 196th in D-1 in points per game surrendered with 71.1. They are forcing 13.4 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 40.9% from the field (126th in D-1). The Creighton defense concedes 35.6% on 3-point attempts (67 of 188) and their opponents are making 66.2% of their free throw shots. They concede 13.5 dimes and 36.4 boards per game, which is 208th and 215th in college hoops.

When they last stepped on the hardwood, the Creighton Bluejays walked away with a victory by a final of 76-74 against the Connecticut Huskies. The Bluejays corralled 31 defensive boards and 9 offensive boards totaling 40 in this game. They turned away 3 attempts while recording 6 steals for the matchup. The Huskies earned 21 personal fouls for the contest which took the Bluejays to the charity stripe for a total of 24 shots. They were able to knock down 15 of those for a percentage of 62.5%. In relation to shots from beyond the perimeter, Creighton converted 7 of their 27 tries (25.9%). At the conclusion of this game, the Bluejays ended up shooting 27 for 65 from the field which gave them a percentage of 41.5%. The Bluejays allowed the Huskies to make 24 of their 67 tries from the field which left them with a rate of 35.8% in this contest. They shot 23.3% from three-point range by connecting on 7 of 30 and ended up shooting 19 out of 26 from the free throw line (73.1%). With respect to how they cleaned up the glass, Creighton allowed Connecticut to grab 37 in total (13 on the offensive side).

Marcus Zegarowski saw a lot of time on the hardwood for the Bluejays in the matchup. He converted 4 out of 14 in this matchup for a rate of 28.6%, which got him 11 points. Zegarowski grabbed 8 boards in his 42 minutes and had 3 assists in this contest. An additional guy who was a determining factor for Creighton was Mitch Ballock. He left the arena with 13 points in his 39 minutes on the court by going 4 of 7 from the floor for the contest. Ballock ended the game having shot 57.1% from the floor in addition to contributing 2 assists and 4 total rebounds.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Xavier (+6)

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