The inclusion of Texas and Xavier in the 2025 NCAA Tournament will certainly spark some debate. But both teams are looking to get a win to make their way into the Round of 64 with a win in this matchup from Dayton, which is set to take place on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Both of these teams struggled against elite competition this season but still qualified for the tournament, with many thinking that there were more deserving schools out there.
According to the latest college basketball odds, Xavier is a 2.5-point favorite in this matchup. As for the total, that has been set at 149.5 points. Continue reading to get our thoughts on Xavier vs Texas and to get our best bet for this First Four matchup prior to the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Xavier Looks to Silence Critics
The Xavier Musketeers went 21-11 this season and lost in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament to the Marquette Golden Eagles. Xavier finished outside of the top-40 in Kenpom’s overall efficiency ratings, making their inclusion as an at-large team a dubious one in the eyes of many. Still, the Musketeers have plenty of talent and will look to put it on display and get a win in this contest from Dayton.
In their Big East quarterfinal loss to Marquette, Xavier got 38 points from Ryan Conwell. Conwell went 13/18 from the field in that game and another big game from the junior guard could lead Xavier to a win here over a similarly-maligned at-large opponent.
Is SEC Strength Enough For Texas?
Texas went 6-12 in the SEC during the regular season, finishing in the bottom-four in the conference standings. But thanks to a cozy relationship between the SEC and the college basketball media at-large, the Longhorns are in the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team. Now they will aim to prove that the decision to include them in this tournament wasn’t an embarrassing one as they take on Xavier out of the Big East.
Texas is also just outside of the top-40 in the Kenpom rankings going into March Madness. If they are going to win this Xavier vs Texas matchup, the Longhorns will need to show up on the defensive end of the floor, where they allow 72.2 points per game. Some of that has to do with a brutal strength of schedule in the SEC, but some of that is also attributable to the lack of consistent play that Texas has displayed all year long.
Xavier vs Texas Prediction
Xavier -2.5 (-110) over Texas
220K Gold Coins & 10 FREE Sweeps Coins
Claim Bonus - Xavier went 18-14 against the spread this season, covering the spread in 56.3% of their games on the season.
- Texas only won a third of their conference games this season and doesn’t belong here at all.
