The Xavier Musketeers take on the Seton Hall Pirates in Newark, New Jersey. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on Peacock.
Seton Hall is favored by 7.5 points on the spread with a price of 78 cents to win and the total set at 144.5 points on Fanatics Markets.
Here’s my Xavier vs. Seton Hall prediction and college basketball picks for January 28, 2026.
Xavier vs Seton Hall Prediction
My Pick: Under 144.5 (Play to 141.5)
My Xavier vs Seton Hall best bet is on the under. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Xavier vs. Seton Hall Odds
(If you're unfamiliar with Fanatics Markets, read more here.)
Xavier vs Seton Hall College Basketball Betting Preview
Xavier Basketball
Xavier is 2-3 in its last five games, but two of the three losses were by just one point on the road.
The Musketeers protected their home court in a 13-point win against Providence and a 14-point win against Butler, and even their most recent loss to St. John's — a five-point defeat at home — isn't a bad result for one of the weaker teams in the conference.
Overall, Xavier doesn't exactly enter this game with too much momentum, but recently the brand of basketball played by the Musketeers has been much better, even if it hasn't materialized in the win column just yet.
Xavier has still had very topsy-turvy results against teams like Seton Hall, however. In six games against teams ranked 40th-60th on KenPom (the Pirates are ranked 51st, near the midpoint of that range), the Musketeers are 3-3 this season.
The good results include the 14-point win against Butler (No. 55 on KenPom), which was Xavier's most recent win, and also early non-conference victories against West Virginia (No. 58 on KenPom) and Cincinnati (No. 59 on KenPom).
The bad results look ugly, though. KenPom No. 43 Santa Clara beat Xavier 87-68 at the Cintas Center, and No. 53 Creighton swept the season series against the Musketeers, winning by 41 points in the first matchup before winning by just one point last Wednesday.
A good sign for Xavier in this matchup is that while Seton Hall is excellent at creating turnovers (the Pirates have the 10th-best defensive turnover rate in the country), the Musketeers are just as great at taking care of the ball on offense (No. 11 in offensive turnover rate).
Xavier has to continue to take care of the ball against Seton Hall, or it'll be a long night for the Musketeers.
Seton Hall Basketball
Seton Hall started the season 14-2, but it enters this matchup on a four-game losing streak. The Pirates were expected to struggle over the last few weeks, as they played three straight opponents in the top 55 on KenPom. However, adding on the loss to DePaul, they went 0-4 over that stretch, which was a complete surprise.
Again, Seton Hall has struggled against elevated competition this season, compiling a 1-4 record against top-50 opposition (the only win was against KenPom No. 26 NC State at the Maui Invitational).
The Pirates weren't supposed to beat UConn at home or St. John's on the road, but they entered as the favorite against both Butler at home and DePaul on the road, and lost both of those games.
The Pirates will have to dig deep to get out of the rut they're currently in, but with the No. 10 defense on KenPom, they have by far the best individual unit in this matchup.
As mentioned before, Seton Hall is great at forcing turnovers, but the Pirates are solid all-around on the defensive end, ranking 10th in opponent effective field goal percentage, first in block rate and third in steal rate.
Seton Hall's defense should be more than good enough to hold Xavier's offense at bay. That'll lead to a comfortable win at home, with the Pirates desperately needing something to go right.
Xavier vs. Seton Hall Betting Analysis
Both teams will have extra motivation in this one, but for different reasons. In reality, Seton Hall coming off a loss will refocus the Pirates, while Xavier coming up just short against St. John's is just par for the course in a stretch of improved play.
Xavier will be able to withstand relentless pressure on the ball from Seton Hall — better than most teams can — but that still won't be enough to win this game or score at a high clip.
I think the Pirates rely on their solid defense, and whether they turn the Musketeers over or not is irrelevant. They'll keep this game at their pace by slowing it down and limiting Xavier to an uncomfortably low possession count. Thus, the game will stay low-scoring as a result.
Also, our Action PRO projections have this total down at 140.6, giving us nearly four points of value at the current line (as of writing). This is graded as a strong B+, which gives us another reason to take the under down to 141.5.
My Pick: Under 144.5 (Play to 141.5)
