Seton Hall Pirates vs. Xavier Musketeers Prediction & Game Preview - 2/26/2022

Time: 3:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Cintas Center, Cincinnati, OH

Where to watch: FOX

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Seton Hall: 17-9 (8-8 Big East)

Xavier: 17-10 (7-9 Big East)

Whether we like it or not, college basketball always has this trend where we think we know what the trajectory of the conference is going to go, and then the cream of the crop separates itself toward the very end of the regular season.

Case in point for our two teams for Saturday's matchup between the Seton Hall Pirates and the Xavier Musketeers. both teams are very good, 17 win teams, and have the ability and the talent to play spoiler to a lot of the teams atop the Big East.

But as we saw this week from both of these teams that is going to be very difficult to come by, especially with how far of a whole both teams have dug themselves. Starting with the pirates, though they've won two straight games after defeating Butler by 6 points on Wednesday, a 17 win season is not gonna be good enough to get to the NCAA tournament, and it might not even be good enough to get to the NIT.

But it was a good win for Seton Hall, all things considered. The pirates dressed only eight players, but had four scoring double figures led by Jared Rhoden 17 points in 39 minutes despite the pirates shooting just 40% from the field.

But the thing I've learned about the Big East conference this year is that you're not going to win a lot of games shooting just 40% from the field. You need someone that's going to actually take reins of the offense and make the shots when they count. And looking at Seton hall, I'm not really sure if there is a player that can actually do that. Sure they have some great depth and can score with anybody on the floor, but when the game comes down to the final seconds, who's going to be that clutch player to drive them past the finish line?

And for his respectable of the season as the pirates have had, I just don't see it happening.

Honestly to, the same can be said for the Xavier Musketeers. And that's kind of sad to think because Xavier has been one of those teams that's been pesty in regards to its conference opponents this year. But the Musketeers have found themselves losers of four of their last five and appear to be reeling downward at the worst possible time.

The Musketeers are coming off a triple-overtime loss to the Providence Friars, which is not anything bad to put on the Musketeers. Xavier took the 11th best team in the country too it's for this limit. Despite shooting just 42% from the floor and only 26% from 3 point range, the Musketeers kept things close pretty much all night.

It’s just not enough when you’re going against a team that has deep tournament implications. And again that's not a bad thing. It's just the way that the college basketball landscape is right now. You get to a point where there are certain teams that are just far and away better in crunch time then the underdog and that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.

But the Musketeers are fighting for a higher seed in the Big East tournament, whether or not that actually plays well into their favor remains to be seen. But I am intrigued to see how the home team handles this game in what is a matchup between two teams that are fairly even.

Both offenses are about the same, both defenses give up about the same number of points, and the Musketeers shoot about two percentage points better then Seton hall. Only downside is that the home team has lost three straight and has happened against very good teams within this conference. Let's see how that translates.

I think this is going to be a much closer game than what we would originally give credit for. I think the Musketeers are a great team with a lot of depth and willingness to share the basketball, but I also feel that Seton hall tends to play its best games at this time of the year. I envision the home team starting off strong getting out to a nice halftime lead but Seton hall cuts into it during the second half. And at the end of the day, I see big Xavier pulling out the victory with a last minute stretch. Xavier by 8

Seton Hall is 12-4 ATS as a road dog or pick the past three seasons.

Seton Hall is 12-3 ATS after playing two straight home games the past three seasons.

Xavier is 19-36 ATS as a favorite the past three seasons.

PG: Kadary Richmond

SG: Jared Rhoden

SF: Myles Cale

PF: Tray Jackson

C: Ike Obiagu

PG: Dwon Odom

SG: Paul Scruggs

SF: Colby Jones

PF: Zach Freemantle

C: Jack Nunge

Points: Jared Rhoden -- 15.5

Rebounds: Alexis Yetna -- 7.8

Assists: Kadary Richmond -- 4.1

Points: Jack Nunge -- 13.3

Rebounds: Colby Jones -- 7.6

Assists: Paul Scruggs -- 4.1