Teams tend to lose their focus and become ripe for an upset during the week between a Thanksgiving trip and the start of final exams. Richard Pitino’s Xavier Musketeers team also has the additional distraction of a fiercely contested rivalry game with Cincinnati coming in four days.
That’s why Pitino scheduled the Saint Francis Red Flash, one of the worst teams in Division I, for Monday, December 1.
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The Musketeers should be able to avoid the upset, but my Saint Francis vs. Xavier predictions and college basketball picks still have Saint Francis covering the spread.
Saint Francis vs Xavier prediction
Saint Francis vs Xavier best bet: Saint Francis +27.5 (-110)
Make no mistake, the Saint Francis Red Flash is not a strong team. The Red Flash lost their first six games before posting their only win over Franciscan, a Division III team that doesn’t offer athletic scholarships. They lost to Oklahoma by 36, and TCU by 41.
Saint Francis has also lost to Lehigh and Mount St. Mary’s, ranked in the high 200s by the top analytics sites. The Red Flash ranks No. 355 out of 365 teams in KenPom, and No. 350 at BartTorvik. They have just one player in their regular rotation taller than 6-foot-6, and he averages 4.7 points per game.
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The Xavier Musketeers, meanwhile, are 5-3. The Musketeers have lost to Santa Clara, Iowa, and Georgia. They boast a 10-point win over West Virginia.
They have shown a tendency to play with their food at times, however. Xavier beat Marist by just four points in its home opener, and escaped with a 5-point win over Le Moyne, also at home.
Xavier has hit 11 3-pointers in each of their last four games and had 19 assists in three of them. But that outside shooting has weaned them away from the inside shot.
Xavier has more than 25 3-point attempts in all but one of their games this year and have shot more threes than twos in three of the last five. They hit just 9 of 30 from 2-point range against West Virginia, and are hitting only 42% of their 2-point attempts on the season, one of the lowest percentages in Division I.
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That means, if the outside shooting hits a cold stretch, the team doesn’t have a safety net. Coming off a holiday trip to Charleston, with bellies full of turkey and looking ahead to bigger things on the horizon, a prolonged cold stretch isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Xavier still has the firepower to top Saint Francis comfortably, but the blowout-level spread is far less assured.
Saint Francis vs Xavier same-game parlay
Xavier has gone Over in three of its last four games and has gone Under in just one of the last six. They play at the No. 85 tempo in the nation, and Saint Francis plays even faster, at No. 38.
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The Red Flash has been an Under in their last four, mainly because their offense hasn’t put up enough points. However, against major conference teams, they’ve given up more than 100 and gone Over in both games.
Saint Francis vs Xavier SGP
Saint Francis vs Xavier odds
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Spread: Saint Francis +27.5 | Xavier -27.5
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Moneyline: Saint Francis +4000 | Xavier -20000
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Over/Under: Over 151.5 | Under 151.5
Saint Francis vs Xavier betting trend to know
St. Francis has hit the Over in 17 of its last 28 games. Find more college basketball betting trends for Saint Francis vs. Xavier.
How to watch Saint Francis vs Xavier
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Location |
Cintas Center, Cincinnati, OH |
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Date |
Monday, December 1, 2025 |
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Tip-off |
7:00 p.m. ET |
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TV |
truTV |
Saint Francis vs Xavier key injuries
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change.
Not intended for use in MA.
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