The Xavier Musketeers (23-8, 15-5 Big East) face the DePaul Blue Demons (10-22, 4-17 Big East) Thursday at Madison Square Garden in the quarterfinals of the Big East Conference Tourney.
DePaul squeaked by the Seton Hall Pirates 66-65 at Madison Square Garden yesterday in the first round. Javan Johnson was the key player with 19 points.
Xavier won their third in a row on Saturday at Cintas Center, beating the Butler Bulldogs 78-66 in their regular season finale. Colby Jones had 20 points and eight rebounds to lead the team. DePaul and Xavier split their two matchups this season.
The Musketeers came out on top in the last meeting, beating the Blue Demons 82-68 at Cintas Center on February 18. Jack Nunge led the Musketeers with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Umoja Gibson had 17 points in the loss. Gibson and Johnson, averaging 15.7 and 14.4 points per game, respectively, have led the Blue Demons in scoring this season. Gibson also has dished 4.6 assists per game.
Meanwhile, Eral Penn is grabbing 6.8 rebounds per game. Souley Boum (16.8 ppg) and Jones (14.8) have supplied much of the Musketeers’ offense. Boum also has recorded 4.5 assists per game. Nunge has pulled down 7.7 rebounds per game.
The Musketeers are one of the top scoring offenses in the nation, ranking 10th with 82.1 points per game.DePaul is 1-9 in the last 10 games with an average margin of -10.7 (69.3-80.0). Xavier has a 6-4 record over the last 10, scoring 78.2 points per game on average while holding opponents to 72.3 (+5.9 margin).
BLUE DEMONS HOT/COLD
(Last Five | Season Average | Differential)
Points + Rebounds + Assists:
Nick Ongenda: 21.0 | 4.4 | +16.6
Da’Sean Nelson: 5.5 | 16.6 | -11.1
Points per game:
Da’Sean Nelson: 3.3 | 10.0 | -6.7
Rebounds per game:
Da’Sean Nelson: 1.5 | 4.9 | -3.4
Assists per game:
Javan Johnson: 3.2 | 2.5 | +0.7
MUSKETEERS HOT/COLD
(Last Five | Season Average | Differential)
Points + Rebounds + Assists:
Jerome Hunter: 19.0 | 12.7 | +6.3
Zach Freemantle: 0.0 | 19.3 | -19.3
Points per game:
Zach Freemantle: 0.0 | 11.2 | -11.2
Rebounds per game:
Zach Freemantle: 0.0 | 6.0 | -6.0
Assists per game:
Souley Boum: 2.8 | 4.5 | -1.7
SportsTips’ College Basketball Pick:
Xavier -12.5 (-110)
Want up to a $1K risk free bet for this pick?
Claim with 
today!
If you need more news, information and predictions, head over to our college basketball hub page for all your college basketball needs!
*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
