ACC vs Big East: Wake Forest Visits Xavier Muskateers – Betting Preview

Wake Forest at Xavier
Time: 5 PM ET, Dec 28, 2013
Spread: XAV -8

Odds courtesy of Bovada

The Xavier Muskateers enter the game 9-3 as winners of its last four and find itself 8-point favorites over Wake Forest at home according to college basketball oddsmakers at Bovada. With wins over Bowling Green, Evansville, Cincinnati and Alabama, the team is playing well and performing to preseason expectations.

On Dec 21, Xavier defeated the Crimson Tide by three points, overcoming a seven-point defect at the half. Center Matt Stainbrook finished with 17 points and six rebounds and forward Isaiah Philmore put up 17 points, nine of which came at the line. Stainbrook is averaging 10.3 points per game, and Philmore averages 9.1 in 22.9 minutes per game.

Semaj Christon has led the team in scoring with 14.9 points per game. Christon, a 6’3″ combo guard, has struggled the last two contests, shooting ust 7-of-18 combined in the losses. In the three games prior, Christon averaged 20.3 points per game, so getting the shooter back on track is instrumental in taking down the ACC opponent in Wake Forest tonight.

Wake Forest is 10-2 and also riding a four game win streak, though all four games were against weak opponents. The team’s two losses came to a then-No. 2 Kansas team and Tennessee. The 10-2 mark is deceiving due to the weak schedule the Demon Deacons have faced thus far, and Xavier should represent a huge test for a team that currently ranks 8th in the nation in rebounds (43.6 per game).

Codi Miller-McIntyre leads the team in scoring with 17.5 points per game, and he is the only Demon Deacon to play more than 30 minutes per night, too. The 6’3″ guard has doubled is scoring average from his freshman season and is shooting 49 percent from the floor and 31 percent from behind the arc. Miller-McIntyre has scored in double figures in all but two Wake games, and the Demon Deacons won both of those contests (USC and Citadel).