The Connecticut Huskies got a needed win on Sunday ending a three-game slide with a brutal thumping of Butler. The competition stiffens on Wednesday when the first-place Xavier Musketeers pay a visit. The Musketeers rebounded from their first Big East loss that ended an 11-game winning streak by defeating Georgetown, 95-82, though they failed to cover the spread for a second straight ATS setback. The teams met at the end of December with Xavier’s 83-73 cover win starting a stretch that saw the Huskies lose five of six games.
This College Basketball game will go down Wednesday, January 25, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. ET at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT. The game will be televised live on FS1. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball schedule.
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Odds Analysis
Overall the teams have nearly identical records with the difference being in conference play. Xavier opened Big East action with seven consecutive wins, including an 83-73 takedown of then No. 2 UConn on Dec. 31. The Musketeers won outright as a 3-point dog going 6-1 ATS in that span. Playing against top competition apparently got Xavier ready for the grueling Big East schedule. The Musketeers dropped three of four games in November with each setback to a club highly ranked. Losses to Indiana, Duke and Gonzaga were by a combined 13 points with Xavier going 1-1-1 ATS. They’ve beaten two ranked teams since knocking off UConn and Marquette in league play. Overall the Musketeers are 16-4 SU and 11-8-1 ATS.
UConn got as high as No. 2 in the national rankings by winning 14 straight to open the year. The perfect season ended with a 10-point loss to Xavier at the end of December starting a slide that saw the Huskies lose five of six games while going 1-5 ATS. Three of those setbacks were by 10 or more points. All they needed to get back on track was a matchup against Butler, a program the Huskies have never lost to. They took out weeks of frustration with an 86-56 home win improving to 11-1 SU and 8-3-1 ATS in home contests.
Xavier Musketeers
The Musketeers like to push the pace and the strategy has paid off. They rank among the top-10 nationally averaging 84.1 points, shooting better than 50 percent from the field and making nearly 40 percent of their three-pointers. They reached the 90-point mark for the sixth time in their 95-82 win over Georgetown on Saturday, bouncing back from one of their worst offensive showings in a 73-72 loss to DePaul in the previous game.
Relying on their starting five for most of the damage, the Musketeers have little in terms of depth. But right now they don’t need it. Every starter averages more than 28 minutes with leading scorer Souley Boum averaging 16.6 points in nearly 35 minutes. Four players scored at least 15 points and five reached double figures with Xavier shooting 54 percent in the earlier win over UConn. The teams cashed the OVER in that game with the Musketeers going 14-5 against the OVER in all games this season.
Connecticut Huskies
The slump the Huskies experienced seemed out of character for club that started the year 14-0 with wins over programs like Oregon, Alabama, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Florida. They may have been slightly overrated, but as coach Dan Hurley said, “We know we don’t suck.” Three of their setbacks were to the top teams in the league where the Huskies were the favorite. And before Sunday’s payout win over Butler the Huskies were 1-7 ATS. That followed a non-conference slate that saw them go 10-0-1 ATS.
Playing at home will be a boost since the Huskies have been good. They had won 15 straight home games before losing last week to St. John’s, but they picked things up routing Butler for the cover win over the weekend improving to 11-1. Leading scorer Adama Sanogo had a nice game going 9 of 17 for 18 points in the earlier loss with the Huskies shooting just 42 percent from the field. They were outscored by 19 points from the free throw line with Xavier attempting 28 free throws to nine for UConn. That likely won’t happen again.
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Xavier will push the pace and points are a probable outcome. The teams cashed the OVER in four of five all-time meetings and offense is big deal. UConn got a boost of confidence blasting Butler last time out and the home court edge is a thing. Don’t expect such a discrepancy in free throws this time out allowing UConn to pull out a home win.
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