{"id":20144,"date":"2011-12-10T03:32:54","date_gmt":"2011-12-10T08:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=20144"},"modified":"2011-12-10T11:22:02","modified_gmt":"2011-12-10T16:22:02","slug":"crosstown-rivals-collide-cincinnati-bearcats-at-xavier-musketeers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/crosstown-rivals-collide-cincinnati-bearcats-at-xavier-musketeers-20144\/","title":{"rendered":"Crosstown Rivals Collide: Cincinnati Bearcats at Xavier Musketeers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cincinnati Bearcats at #8 Xavier Musketeers
\nScintas Arena – Cincinnati, Ohio
\nSaturday, December 10, 2011, 12:30 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN2
\nOpening Line: Xavier -7
\nCurrent Line: Xavier -7 1\/2
\nOpening Total: 124
\nCurrent Total: 124 1\/2
\nOpening Money Line: Xavier -335 \/ Cincinnati +285
\nCurrent Money Line: Xavier -380 \/ Cincinnati +290
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Tu Holloway and the Xavier Musketeers host crosstown rival Cincinnati Saturday afternoon. Xavier is a 7 point favorite.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 5-2 Cincinnati Bearcats take on their crosstown rival the #8 7-0 Xavier Musketeers Saturday afternoon. Cincinnati leads the overall series 48-30 including a 66-46 win last year on the Bearcat’s home campus. Until a few seasons ago this game was always at a neutral site, but has been played at the campus sites recently. The Bearcats are coached by Mick Cronin, and have puzzling losses at home to Presbyterian 56-54 and Marshall 73-69 in overtime. Cincinnati has won two straight games against rival Miami-Ohio 56-47 and last Friday at Georgia 57-51. The Georgia win is by far the best win of the season for the Bearcats. Xavier is coached by Chris Mack. Xavier also has wins over Miami 66-60 and Georgia 70-56 along with road wins at Vanderbilt 82-70 and Wednesday night at Butler 73-61. The Musketeers also have a home win over Purdue 66-63.<\/p>\n

Cincinnati was a 1.5 point favorite on the road at Georgia last Friday on the college basketball betting line. Cincinnati struggled in the first half, with an 8 minute stretch where they didn’t hit a field goal. Georgia took a 30-21 lead at halftime. Cincinnati shut down the Bulldogs in the second half. The Bearcats went on a 16-4 run early in the second half and never gave up the lead for the rest of the game. Cincinnati took a 38-31 lead with 13 minutes left, and Georgia only scored 3 field goals for the rest of the game. In fact, Georgia was only 6\/21 shooting in the second half. The Bulldogs had 8 turnovers and 3 assists in the second half as the Bearcats won 57-51. The Bearcats were 19\/49 shooting from the field but they did make 9 of 20 three pointers. Cincy was 10\/19 from the free throw line. Both teams had 32 rebounds. Georgia had 13 turnovers and Cincinnati had 12. Bearcat guard Sean Kilpatrick had 22 points and 5 rebounds. He made 4 out of 9 three pointers he attempted. Guard Dion Dixon had 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. Forward Yancy Gates scored only 5 points but had 8 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Cincinnati is outscoring teams 69-60 this season. The Bearcats are shooting 43.7% from the field, including 33.8% on three pointers. The Bearcats are shooting 66.8% from the free throw line. Cincinnati pulls down 35.3 rebounds a game, and have a rebounding margin of +4.3. Cincinnati averages 14.2 assists, 11.5 turnovers, 7.4 steals, and 3.7 blocks a game. Cincinnati opponents are shooting 41.1% from the field, including 32.3% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

Kilpatrick is averaging 15 points to lead the team, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists a game. He is 16\/35 on three point shots this season. Dixon averages 13.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.4 steals a game. Dixon is 13\/34 on three pointers. Gates averages 12.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 1.3 blocks a game. Guard Cashmere Wright averages 9.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists to lead the team, and 1.7 steals a game to tie for the team lead. Justin Jackson averages 6.1 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 2 blocks a game to lead the team. Guard Jaquon Parker is questionable with a groin injury. Forward Octavius Ellis is out until early January with a broken hand. Forward Shaquille Thomas is out indefinitely because of eligibility issues.<\/p>\n

Xavier was a 5 point favorite at Butler Wednesday night. The game was close early until Xavier went on a 17-0 run. At one point Xavier was up by 18. Butler had only 5 first half baskets as Xavier jumped out to a 39-23 halftime lead. Butler fought back in the second half pulling to within 4 points at 45-41 with 13 minutes to go. However, Xavier held on for the 73-61 win. Xavier guard Tu Holloway struggled from the field hitting only 1 out of 7 shots. However he made 14 of his 16 free throws to lead the Musketeers with 16 points. Holloway also added 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 6 steals. Guard Mark Lyons also had 16 points. Guard\/forward Dezmine Wells had 13 points.<\/p>\n

Xavier is outscoring opponents 74-62 this season. The Musketeers are shooting 46.3% from the field, including 39.6% on three pointers. Xavier makes 63.3% of their free throws. The Musketeers average 41.1 rebounds a game and have a rebounding margin of +6.6. Xavier averages 13.3 assists, 14.9 turnovers, 7.4 steals, and 4.4 blocks a game. Musketeer opponents are shooting 35.9% from the field, including 25.5% from 3 point range.<\/p>\n

Holloway averages 17.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 2.7 steals a game. He leads the Musketeers in scoring, assists, and steals. Lyons averages 17.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.6 steals a game. Kenny Frease averages 9.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 2.1 blocks a game to lead the team. Wells averages 8.9 points and 4.3 rebounds. Travis Taylor averages 6.6 points and 6.9 rebounds a game to lead the team.<\/p>\n

Xavier is 3-2 against the spread and the total is 2-3 this season. Cincinnati is 1-3 ATS and the total is 2-2 this season. The underdog is 8-3 ATS in the last 11 in this series and the under is 7-3 in the last 10. The Bearcats are 7-3 ATS in non-conference games, 1-4 after a straight up win, and overall. The Musketeers are 10-4 ATS after a straight up win, 3-7 in Saturday games, and as a favorite of 7-12.5 points, including 2-5 at home, 4-10-1 in non-conference games, 1-4 at home, and 0-6 at home against teams with winning road records.<\/p>\n

Cincinnati has been inconsistent this season. They haven’t played a team nearly as talented as Xavier. This could get ugly, but recent history in this series suggests the underdog will cover. I see Xavier breaking that trend and winning by double digits.<\/p>\n

Our college basketball handicappers are red hot this season and are crushing the sports books. Check our college basketball odds page for the best lines on every game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cincinnati Bearcats at #8 Xavier Musketeers Scintas Arena – Cincinnati, Ohio Saturday, December 10, 2011, 12:30 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN2 Opening Line: Xavier -7 Current Line: Xavier -7 1\/2 Opening Total: 124 Current Total: 124 1\/2 Opening Money Line: Xavier -335 \/ Cincinnati +285 Current Money Line: Xavier -380 \/ Cincinnati +290 The 5-2 Cincinnati […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40249,"featured_media":19748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1444],"tags":[4080,559,1152,9528,3887,3631,6030,2024,30,1369],"class_list":["post-20144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-basketball","category-headlines","tag-atlantic-10","tag-big-east","tag-cincinnati-bearcats","tag-college-basketball","tag-college-basketball-betting","tag-college-basketball-handicapping","tag-college-basketball-odds","tag-espn2","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-xavier-musketeers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20144"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20148,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20144\/revisions\/20148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}