The No. 1 seed in the West region, the Xavier Musketeers will look to kick off what they hope will be their longest March Madness run when they take on First Four winner Texas Southern in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. Xavier will look to live up to their billing as a top seed and March Madness odds favorite while Texas Southern would like nothing better than to become the first 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed. Now, let’s find out what’s going to go down when these two hook up to start the weekend.
Xavier has a modest three double-digit scorers and relies on star senior guard Trevon Bluiett (19.5 ppg) to have a great game almost every time out. Senior guard J.P. Macura averages 12.2 points per game and fellow senior forward Kareem Kanter, the younger brother of New York Knicks center Enes Kanter averages 10.4 points per contest. The Musketeers average a stellar 84.3 points per game and limit the opposition to 74.5 per game defensively.
Tigers vs. Musketeers March Madness Odds & Expert Prediction
We are No. 3 in the final @AP Poll and No. 4 in the final regular season @USATODAY Coaches Poll: https://t.co/M7YooLjBMh #LetsGoX #LetsMarch
— Xavier Basketball (@XavierMBB) 12 de marzo de 2018
- When: Friday, March 16, 2018, 7:20 PM ET
- Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
- Radio: TuneIn
- Live Stream: MM Live
- March Madness Odds: Xavier Musketeers -19.5 (Over/Under at 160 points)
Nevada vs. Texas NCAA Basketball Odds & First Round Game Info
Team Records
- All: Texas Southern Tigers 16-19 / Xavier Musketeers 28-5
- Home: Texas Southern Tigers 8-2 / Xavier Musketeers 18-2
- Away: Texas Southern Tigers 8-17 / Xavier Musketeers 10-3
- ATS: Texas Southern Tigers 7-1 / Xavier Musketeers 21-12
- Over/Under: Texas Southern Tigers 4-4 / Xavier Musketeers 18-14-1
Why Consider the Tigers March Madness Odds?
Why should you consider betting on Texas Southern? Because the Tigers have absolutely nothing to lose and hey, Xavier is a bit overrated and far too reliant on one player if you ask me. Texas Southern resoundingly beat NC Central 64-46 in their play-in game on Wednesday night as 5’7” sophomore guard Demontrae Jefferson came up big by scoring a game-high 25 points and senior guard Donte Clark added 18 points in the dominating victory. The Tigers average 77.3 points per game and give up 78.8 points per contest defensively. Still, they’ve got four double-digit scorers on their roster, including Jefferson, who is undeniably one of the biggest little men in all of college basketball as he puts up a stellar 23.4 points per contest while Clark averages a healthy 18.6 points per game.Team Statistics
- Points Per Game: 77.3
- Rebounds Per Game: 36.3
- Assists Per Game: 12.2
- Points Allowed: 78.8
Why Consider the Musketeers March Madness Odds?
Why should you consider betting on Xavier in their opener? Well, because they’ve only lost three games all season that wasn’t against the Villanova Wildcats and they should be focused after losing in the Big East Tournament prematurely. Xavier should be plenty motivated after losing to Providence 75-72 in overtime in the semifinals of the Big East conference tournament on Feb. 9. The Musketeers had their four-game winning streak snapped in the process, but they’ve got big tournament hopes.
Xavier has a modest three double-digit scorers and relies on star senior guard Trevon Bluiett (19.5 ppg) to have a great game almost every time out. Senior guard J.P. Macura averages 12.2 points per game and fellow senior forward Kareem Kanter, the younger brother of New York Knicks center Enes Kanter averages 10.4 points per contest. The Musketeers average a stellar 84.3 points per game and limit the opposition to 74.5 per game defensively.
Team Statistics
- Points Per Game: 84.3
- Rebounds Per Game: 38.4
- Assists Per Game: 16.6
- Points Allowed: 74.5
Latest March Madness Betting Trends
- Texas Southern is 0-11 SU in its last 11 games against teams with winning records
- The total has gone UNDER in Texas Southern’s last 5 games
- Xavier is 8-4 ATS in its last 12 games
- Xavier is 13-1 SU in its last 14 games
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Xavier’s last 6 games
