Creighton vs. Xavier Big East Tournament Betting Pick

Creighton Blue Jays (22-11 SU, 16-16 ATS) vs. Xavier Musketeers (24-8, 17-14), 3/10/23
When: 9 pm ET Friday, March 10
Where: Madison Square Garden
TV: FS1
Point Spread: Creighton -3/5/Xav +3.5
Over/under: 153

The Big East Conference tournament offers up what should be a dandy when second-seeded Xavier meets third-seeded Creighton for a semifinal bout Friday night at MSG. These teams split two meetings during the regular season, and both are already basically shoo-ins to make next week’s NCAA tournament.

Which way are we going here for our free college basketball betting pick?

College Basketball Betting Odds

Friday’s CBB betting lines opened Creighton at -3.5 over Xavier, with an over/under of right around 153. Both figures were holding steady in the early betting action.

According to Sagarin’s CBB ratings at USAToday.com the Bluejays should only be favored by one point for this match-up.

Creighton Betting Preview

The Blue Jays reached this Big East tournament semifinal by beating Villanova Thursday 87-74. Creighton, favored by four points, went up by double digits nine minutes into the game and led 32-23 at the half. The Blue Jays later led by 20 and eased home from there for the win and the cover.

Creighton shot 50 percent from the field Thursday and held the Wildcats to just 42 percent shooting.

The Blue Jays ended their regular season with an 84-70 win over DePaul last Saturday. Just before that they pounded Georgetown 99-59. But before that, they lost three of four.

Xavier Betting Preview

Meanwhile, the Musketeers reached Friday’s action by coming from behind to beat DePaul Thursday 89-84. Xavier fell down to the 10th-seeded Blue Demons by 13 points late in the first half and trailed 49-40 into the locker room. The Musketeers still trailed by 13 midway through the second half but rallied, finally took the lead for good at 81-80 with two minutes left, and hung on for the W.

However, Xavier never came close to covering the spread as a 12-point favorite.

The Musketeers shot 49 percent from the floor Thursday but allowed DePaul to shoot a ridiculous 61 percent. But Xavier also won the turnover battle 14-8.

The Musketeers finished their regular season with three straight victories over Butler, Providence, and Seton Hall. But prior to that, they lost three of four.

Xavier is now 7-3 SU, 5-5 ATS since losing F Zach Freemantle (15 points, eight boards per game this season) to a foot injury.

Regardless of what happens Friday night, both these teams are shoo-ins to make the NCAA tournament.

Creighton-Xavier Recent History

These two teams split two meetings this season, each winning and covering at home. The Musketeers won the first match-up back in January 90-87; the Blue Jays won the second meeting three weeks later 84-67.

That first meeting played over a total of 153, while the second meeting played under a total of 157.

College Basketball Betting Trends

Xavier is 6-2 ATS this season as an underdog.

Totals Report

• The Overs are 4-0 over Creighton’s last four games.
• The Overs are also 4-0 over Xavier’s last four games.
• The Unders are 6-2-2 over the last ten meetings between these two teams

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Free Big East Tournament Betting Pick

Creighton is shooting better than 50 percent from the floor over its last three games, but that’s a tough rate to keep up. Meanwhile, Xavier allowed DePaul to shoot 61 percent Thursday night, but that sounds a bit fluke-ish; they’ll be better on that end of the court here. We gotta believe this will be a good, close game, and a couple of buckets in our pocket might come in real handy. We like the Musketeers plus the points.