Xavier vs Georgetown Odds & Picks (Dec. 16)

• Xavier and Georgetown meet in the Big East opener for both on Friday, December 16
• Xavier is an 10.5-point road favorite over the Hoyas at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
• Read below for the Xavier vs Georgetown odds and prediction

Xavier (8-3, 0-0 Big East) is an 10.5-point road favorite over Georgetown in the Big East opener for both at 6:30 pm ET Friday at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. The Musketeers have won four in a row after stopping Southern U. at home Tuesday.

Georgetown (5-6, 0-0 Big East) has lost three of its last four and was beaten by former Big East rival Syracuse 83-64 on the road the last time out last Saturday. The Hoyas have not beaten a Power 6 team in four tries this season and have lost their last 26 to Power 6 foes.

Xavier vs Georgetown Odds

Odds from BetMGM on Dec. 15. Claim a BetMGM promo code. 

Xavier opened as an 11.-5 point favorite over Georgetown but was betdown to 10.5-pointin the continuation of the series played regularly since the Musketeers joined the Big East in 2014. Xavier is 13-4 SU and 11-6 ATS in the series since 2014 and is 3-1 SU and 2-2 ATS in the last four meetings.  The Musketeers are 11-2 SU and 7-4 ATS as a favorite.

The total has gone over in nine of the Musketeers’ 11 games this season. The Hoyas are 4-7 ATS and have covered only once against a Power 6 opponent this season, that in a 79-65 road loss to Texas Texas as a 16.5-point underdog Nov. 30.

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Xavier Under New Management

Coach Sean Miller was the Atlantic 10 coach of the year while leading Xavier to its greatest successes in the late 2000s, and he is back after a messy split from Arizona, where he led the Wildcats to seven NCAA tournament appearances and five Pac-12 regular-season titles in 12 straight winning seasons. Transfer guard Souley Boum is the only addition to a veteran Musketeers’ group that is built to compete now.

Xavier's Souley Boum (17 PPG) is fourth in the Big East in scoring and looks like the conference's best transfer. Shooting over 50% from the field and from 3-point range.

Musketeers wrap up their non-conference slate tonight at the Cintas Center against Southern.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) December 13, 2022

Leading scorer 6’3 Boum is averaging 17.0 points per game after averaging 16.9 the previous three seasons at UTEP. Returning starters guard 6’5 Colby Jones (14.9 points, 5.6 assists) and mobile big men 6’11 Jack  Nunge (15.3 points, 7.1 rebounds) and 6’9 Zach Freemantle (13.3 points, 7.5 rebounds) mesh well. The Musketeers are shooting 50.7 percent from the floor, sixth in Division I. They have made 40.7 percent from distance, with both Boum and Jones making at least 50 percent.

This will be Xavier’s second true road game and the first outside the Cincinnati city limits. The Musketeers beat cross-town rival Cincinnati 80-77 at the Fifth Third Arena on the Bearcats’ campus in the 90th annual Crosstown Shootout last Saturday.

Georgetown Off to Slow Start

Georgetown is disintegrating before our very eyes. Coach Patrick Ewing’s Hoyas have lost 25 straight games to Power 6 programs, the last a one-sided loss to former Big East rival Syracuse last week. The Hoyas attempted to patch through the transfer portal this season with center Qudus Wahab (Maryland), forward Akok Akok (UConn), guard Brandon Murray (LSU) guard Primo Spears (Duquesne) and guard Jay Heath (Arizona State), but they have yet to find a fit.

Georgetown's last 25 high-major opponents:

Hoyas have lost all 25.

'Cuse
South Car.
Texas Tech
Northwestern
Seton Hall
Xavier
Seton Hall
UConn
DePaul
'Nova
Marquette
Creighton
Creighton
DePaul
Prov.
St. John's
Seton Hall
Butler
UConn
'Nova
Prov.
St. John's
Butler
Marquette
TCU

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) December 10, 2022

Spears leads the team in scoring (17.2 points per game) and assists (4.9), just ahead of Murray (15.1 points, 4.0 assists) and Heath (14.4 points). Each of those three is averaging at least 34.8 minutes per game. Ewing, who has called Murray his best player, has used four different starting lineups in an attempt to jump-start a team that was 6-25 last season and lost their last 21, including all 19 Big East games.

The numbers are not promising. The Hoyas are shooting 44 percent from the field and are being outrebounded and outscored against a schedule that will get appreciably more difficult. Syracuse had 46 points in the paint Saturday. They have lost halftime leads in losses to Northwestern, Loyola Marymount, American and South Carolina.

Xavier vs Georgetown Prediction

Xavier has played well in this Big East rivalry, and Sean Miller’s addition will reinvigorate a program that made the Elite Eight in 2017 (beating Miller’s Arizona team in the Sweet Sixteen) but has made only one NCAA tournament appearance since. Georgetown has not found a cohesive mix, and there is little reason to believe the light will go on now.

• Pick: Xavier -10.5 (-115)
• Season CBK: 12-4 ATS