Xavier Musketeers vs Marquette Golden Eagles Prediction, 3/6/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Xavier Musketeers vs Marquette Golden Eagles

Date: Saturday, March 6, 2021

Location: Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI

TV: FS1

Odds/Point Spread: Xavier (+2)

Fiserv Forum is the venue where and the Marquette Golden Eagles (12-13) will play the Xavier Musketeers (13-6) on Saturday. Xavier opens this contest as 2-point underdogs. The over/under has been set at 144.

Xavier comes into this matchup with a record of 13-6 this year. The Musketeers are connecting on 33.0% on 3-point shots (149 of 452) and 69.2% from the charity stripe. They are averaging 75.9 pts per contest (72nd in D-1) while connecting on 46.1% from the field. They are turning it over 11.4 times per contest and as a squad are committing 15.5 personal fouls per game. As a unit, Xavier is pulling in 38.3 boards per game and has accounted for 344 dimes for the campaign, which ranks 71st in Division 1 in terms of passing. On the defensive end, the Musketeers are able to force 11.7 turnovers per contest while drawing 16.5 personal fouls. They rank 189th in D-1 in allowing assists to the opposition with 282 relinquished for the season. The Musketeers defense is allowing a field goal percentage of 40.8% (490 of 1,201) and they concede 37.1 boards per contest as a team. They concede 33.6% on shots from distance and they are 188th in D-1 in PPG allowed (70.4).

The Xavier Musketeers took the court against the Georgetown Hoyas and took a loss by a final of 72-66 in their last contest. Xavier finished the game with a 32.4% FG percentage (22 out of 68) and made 9 out of their 34 shots from distance. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Musketeers buried 13 of 16 tries for a rate of 81.3%. With regard to rebounding, they collected a total of 39 with 12 of them being offensive. They also doled out 14 assists in this game while forcing the opposition into 12 turnovers and earning 7 steals. Concerning defending, Xavier let their opponent shoot 39.3% from the floor on 24 out of 61 shooting. Georgetown doled out 10 assists and had 4 steals in this matchup. In addition, Georgetown pulled down 42 rebounds (13 offensive, 29 defensive) and got 4 blocks. Georgetown finished the contest at 68.2% at the free throw line by converting 15 of their 22 attempts. They also buried 9 out of their 25 tries from long range.

Zach Freemantle is a player who played a role for the contest. He ended up with 12 points on 4 out of 15 shooting. He saw the court for 31 minutes played and totaled 12 boards. Freemantle finished the game shooting 26.7% from the field and also distributed 1 assist. An additional guy that was a major contributor in this contest for the Musketeers was Colby Jones. He collected 7 rebounds in 32 minutes on the court. He went 33.3% from the floor in this contest by hitting 3-of-9 (11 points). When all was said and done, Jones tallied 4 assists.

Marquette has a record of 12-13 on the year. On the offensive side of the court, the Golden Eagles are shooting 44.7% from the field, which has them ranked 152nd in the nation. Marquette has 1,768 pts for the campaign (70.7 per game) and they average 36.6 boards per game. They are dishing out assists 12.5 times per contest (229th in Division 1) and they are giving up possession 14.4 times per game. The Golden Eagles are responsible for committing 17.2 fouls every game while shooting 73.5% from the charity stripe. The Golden Eagles defensively are ranked 185th in D-1 in points per game surrendered with 70.3. They surrender 13.7 assists and 33.6 rebounds on a nightly basis, which ranks them 239th and 112th in Division 1. The Marquette defense allows 35.1% on shots from beyond the arc (194 of 553) and their opponents are knocking down 72.6% of their foul shots. They are forcing their opponents into 10.9 TO's every game and have allowed teams to shoot 41.5% from the field (83rd in the country).

When they last played, the Marquette Golden Eagles went home victorious with a score of 77-71 when they played the DePaul Blue Demons. The Golden Eagles were able to pull down 29 defensive rebounds and 3 offensive rebounds totaling 32 in the game. They coughed up the ball 14 times, while earning 5 steals in the game. The Blue Demons were called for 23 fouls for the game which took the Golden Eagles to the charity stripe for a total of 25 attempts. They were able to make 19 of the free throw tries for a percentage of 76.0%. Concerning shooting from beyond the arc, Marquette converted 6 of their 23 attempts (26.1%). When the final whistle blew, the Golden Eagles went 26 for 55 from the field which had them shooting 47.3%. The Golden Eagles permitted the Blue Demons to convert 29 out of their 71 attempts from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 40.8% for the contest. They shot 23.8% from distance by shooting 5 of 21 and ended up going 8 of 11 from the charity stripe (72.7%). When talking about cleaning the glass, Marquette allowed DePaul to get 34 in all (11 offensive).

D.J. Carton ended up being important for the Golden Eagles for this contest. He converted 7 of 12 in the game giving him a field goal percentage of 58.3%, and added 7 rebounds. Carton scored 20 points in his 34 mins on the hardwood and had 3 assists for the contest. One more player that was important for Marquette was Dawson Garcia. He walked away with 1 assist in his 29 minutes played, and he knocked down 4 out of 8 from the floor. Garcia walked away from this one going 50.0% from the floor as well as collecting 12 points and 5 rebounds.

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Marquette (-2)

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