The Marquette Golden Eagles take on the Purdue Boilermakers in West Lafayette, Indiana. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. ET on Peacock.
Purdue is favored by -18.5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -2800. The total is set at 153.5 points.
Here’s my Marquette vs. Purdue prediction and college basketball picks for December 13, 2025.
Marquette vs Purdue Prediction
My Pick: Marquette +18.5 (Play to +16)
My Marquette vs Purdue best bet is on the Golden Eagles to cover the spread. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Marquette vs. Purdue Odds
| Marquette Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+18.5 -105 | 153.5 -110o / -110u | +1300 |
| Purdue Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-18.5 -115 | 153.5 -110o / -110u | -2800 |
- Marquette vs Purdue spread: Purdue -18.5
- Marquette vs Purdue over/under: 153.5 points
- Marquette vs Purdue moneyline: Marquette +1300, Purdue -2800
Marquette vs Purdue College Basketball Betting Preview
Marquette Basketball
I'm sure Shaka Smart regrets his decision to add zero transfers.
Marquette is 5-5, and all five of the losses came against top-100 opponents. Its best win so far has come against Valpo.
For all the reasons I listed, plus losing to Indiana by 23 and Wisconsin by 20, there are plenty of reasons to fade Marquette.
However, I'm interested in them here for a few reasons.
For one, the Golden Eagles are still tough and athletic, and both of those traits are a thorn in Purdue's side.
Just look at the Memphis game, which Purdue won by nine, but it was much closer than other non-con matchups. The Boilermakers also beat Rutgers by 16 and recently lost to Iowa State by 23.
As all Smart-led teams do, Marquette will push the tempo and try to speed up the game.
The Golden Eagles rank 69th nationally in adjusted tempo and force turnovers 20.7% of the time. That's the perfect style to disrupt Purdue's offensive flow by making things ugly.
Marquette is a bit of a mess in the half-court, so it needs the game to be ugly. It ranks 103rd nationally in offensive efficiency while shooting 50.8% from inside the arc (218th) and 31.3% from deep (251st).
Shooting is the real issue, as 41% of the Golden Eagles' shots come from deep. However, nobody on the roster is a true sharpshooter.
Chase Ross leads the team in scoring (19.1 PPG), but he's more of a driver, shooting 31% from 3. Starting "center" Ben Gold tends to get good looks from three, but he's shooting only 32% from downtown.
The one name who could flip things for Marquette is freshman point guard Nigel James Jr.
Shaka is throwing him into the fire in his first year, which could pay off down the road. James is a bad shooter, but he's the only other double-digit scorer for Marquette — and scored 18-plus points in four of his last five games.
Purdue Basketball
Purdue snapped out of a brutal three-half stretch by outscoring Minnesota by 30 in the final 20 minutes on Wednesday.
Betting on Purdue has been profitable lately, covering in four of its past five games, with the lone non-cover coming in the loss to Iowa State. For the year, the Boilermakers are 5-5 ATS.
The Boilermakers lead the nation in offensive efficiency, and much of their success comes from their shooting.
Not only is Purdue drilling 3s at a 40.3% clip, but it also grabs offensive rebounds on 42% of misses. So even when the treys don't fall, the big-man duo of Oscar Cluff and Trey Kaufman-Renn is always cleaning up the mess.
Rebounding is the separator in this matchup. Purdue is dominant on the glass on both ends, and Marquette tends to struggle on the boards with its lack of size.
The guard duo of Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer is also terrific.
Those two have spent all four years together, and it's one of the best shooting duos in the sport. Loyer is shooting a terrific 45% from downtown, and Smith is shooting 44%. Smith is also the best pure playmaker in America, dishing out 9.1 assists per contest.
On the defensive end, Purdue is more of a question mark. It ranks 26th nationally in defensive efficiency, while the Boilers rank outside the top-110 in 2-point and 3-point field goal defense.
Marquette vs. Purdue Betting Analysis
I know Marquette is a tough team to back, but Purdue struggles with faster-paced teams that try to disrupt its offensive flow.
That's not a new thing — it's happened for years, where that archetype of team keeps things closer against a less-athletic Purdue team.
I'll take the points with the Golden Eagles.
This is the bottom of the market for Marquette. The Eagles should get better as the roster gets used to playing bigger roles, so we can capture some value in a well-coached team.
Marquette is just 2-7-1 ATS thus far, indicating the books were a bit too high on them early, but I see them as a bit undervalued.
My Pick: Marquette +18.5 (Play to +16)
